Hymn for the Hollow

I stand on cracked glass,

bleeding silence beneath my feet.

This year

a savage beast,

tearing flesh from my bones

while the world watches, blind.

Voices spit venom,

calling me lesser,

a ghost trapped in their toxic fog.

Eight to five

a cage with invisible bars.

Chores, cooking, kids

time devoured,

my soul starved.

My girls

the fragile sparks flickering in the void,

my only light in this unholy night.

I swallow the lies,

bear the weight of incompetence,

all for them

but inside, I’m fracturing,

shattering like forgotten glass.

No shoulder to collapse on,

no rock to steady my fall,

no voice loud enough

to shatter this suffocating silence.

I cry alone in the shower,

water washing away the truth I hide

then smile to the world,

a mask forged in survival.

Thoughts rage,

dark storms behind my eyes,

while I choke on the truth

I’m just trying.

Trying to be their fortress,

their world

a pillar carved from cracked stone,

holding back a flood

that threatens to drown me whole.

But inside

I’m sinking,

deep into the shadows,

silent and unseen,

fighting a war no one knows.

Alone

with only my breath and shattered hope,

I clutch at whispers of mercy,

hoping God’s plan

is a light in this endless dark,

praying with every broken heartbeat

that I survive this night,

that I live to see the dawn again.

© 2025 A.M. Roberts. All rights reserved.