You pretend to listen, I pretend you care

And time plays with the memory

My heart greases the wheel of despair

So the scenery and years go by

A lab rat in life’s beta ware

Can’t win and has to try

Painting reveals only the blindness

Music conjures deep profound silence

Poetry is just truth that won’t digest

Smoke and mirrors are my science

A festering hope I still confess

For the meaning and substance

I embrace my hunger and thirst

Its colors are subtle but real

A blessing slandered to a curse

Its invitation to gratitude reveals

Of the two which is the worse

Hunger or complacency’s meal