If you could see my face,
You would know what I am,
And who I am not.
Recognize the features,
But not the expression.
The one who now wears this smile
Is not the man you knew as
A Comrade.
A Confidant.
A Friend.

You will find
Nothing familiar
In these eyes
You will see
A Stranger
A Shadow
A Ghost
Of a man you used to know
Or didn't.

You would see, he and I
Have many things in common
Things I have practiced
Just for the illusion
The sentimental ceremony
The deception of the familiar
Like a gift on your doorstep
Under a letter in a loved one's hand;
You would eat
Never expecting
A gift of nightshade
Waiting within.

Dreamless slumber,
Perverse:
A slave of a slave
Is freer than his master?
I've never carried his weight,
Only shouldered the man himself,
Wounded,
Broken,
Defeated,
Hopeful.