Beyond Reach

I am being pulled in different directions,

Two forces that refuse to release their hold.

One, the light that promises glory—

A siren song, bright, dazzling, unforgiving.

The other, the dark murmur of retreat,

A shadow that cradles my doubts,

Soft, insistent, consuming.

I am split between them,

A tug-of-war of desires,

The thirst for recognition,

The longing for a quiet reprieve.

Each step forward hums with fragile hope,

Each pause steeped in silent dread.

The light blinds,

Filling my vision with unreachable dreams.

The dark comforts,

Shrouding me from the weight of expectation.

I watch myself, detached,

Moving through this labyrinth of want,

A marionette with tangled strings,

Never fully choosing, never wholly free.

Who am I in this struggle?

A seeker clawing for purpose,

Or a wanderer retreating into shadow?

The weariness settles,

Heavy as lead,

Sinking into dreams once gleaming.

The rush of ambition dulls,

The shelter of obscurity suffocates.

Both paths circle back,

Both promises echo hollow.

Voices surround me,

Cheering, pressing,

But none of it pierces the void inside.

Applause blurs into white noise,

And I crave a silence that never comes.

A moment to step away from this fight,

To pause, to breathe,

To remember what it is to truly want.

Caught between hope and surrender,

The light sears,

The dark smothers,

Both tearing at my core,

Leaving an empty shell.

I ache for the end of this pull,

A break from this ceaseless tension,

To find a place where neither side matters,

Where I am more than this battle,

More than ambition, more than fear.

But time doesn’t yield;

It drags me forward, unmoved.

I wish for the world to halt,

To hush itself,

So I could find who I am

Before I fade,

A shadow drifting between what might have been

And what never will be.