Slipping Away

He left work for the day feeling accomplished

Learning all he needed to that day, just as he had the last

It was a position he worked hard for, and that many would covet

He got in his car he didn't belong in, and made his way home
.

Walking up those three porch stairs the stress of the day subsides

Key slides into the door, turning and breaking off any baggage he had

A different air fills the apartment, rushing to meet his face

The warmth of not being alone pushes away the cold of the world
.

On the couch she sits, only sitting, only existing perfectly

Words need not be exchanged as he sinks into her blissful presence

The rest may work in the shadows, but here his partner lies

Engulfed in heavenly light, he is hers and she is his against any dark
.

Pictures of family hang on the walls and sit on end tables

The images pale in comparison to the love behind them

Each small shape encasing memories that built the man

If they showed anything different, they would reflect on a different person
.

His phone full of experiences had with friends

Places he belonged and people who chose to spend time with him

They saw the best and always seemed to keep it around

All they offered was kinship and nothing more could ever be needed
.

Is having everything a blessing if it leaves nowhere for your imagination

Being fulfilled merely leading to an expanding void demanding more

Sacrificing free form ideas and ambitions for the straight lines of comfort

Happiness mutating the closer he got and moving faster as he did
.

The man slips into sleep and feels an unfamiliar shadow watching him

Without being seen it is ugly, without words it is harsh

Foreign thoughts seep into his mind, like smoke into a room

Easy to notice and avoid at first, soon to be impossible to avoid
.

In his dreams he sees an unknown structure in the distance

With many twists and turns, only lit up by smoldering ash and intrigue

It beckons him away from stability with mangled logic

Nothing could be more unsavory and thankfully easy to miss
.

He wakes and goes to his job that tires him, in a car that only takes him there

Repeated processes again and again, engraving paths in his brain like a river through stone

Jumping down always seems easier than climbing

Relaxing easing the process of forgetting the hike up
.

Approaching the same steps yet again, asking again about his day that mirrored the last

The door is uneven and requires effort he does not posses this time

The aura of responsibility and questions desperate for answers hits him

Heat from the friction of his mind running becomes more unbearable each hour
.

There she sits, existing on a better plane than he

A constant reminder that he does not measure up

Once great partnership requiring more effort and emotion than he had

She does not hold fault, even as she breathes more life into the fire
.

Smoke billows in now from every crevice and crack, covering loved ones

Covering friends and covering all love

Once it clears it leaves everything grey and ashen

Making all too easy to question if they ever held love for him
.

When he stumbles into eventual rest, there is no more structure on the horizon

It is all he can see, even as he turns around the entrance eludes him

This place is not as ugly as before, the shadow not so harsh

These are his friends, because they are here and here he cannot feel the void

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/8smr4d/heaviness_of_a_human/e10p5k1/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/8slyrd/blood_bitch/e10ox36/