A silent judgment

Passed on a downcast gaze,

Tearing at the skin,

Desperate to sink in

And root itself

In insecurities.

Scorching sadness

Ravaging through

A droughted mind.

A doubted self,

Patiently allowing

Parasitic feelings

To leech away

Each and every

Nostalgia-plagued

Happy memory.

Replacing faint recollections

Of long-gone yesterdays

With distorted truths from

A parallel past,

Inflicting an emotional cancer

On an already-afflicted,

Twisted and contorted

Psyche.

A psyche like a diamond,

One not so beautiful,

With jagged edges

And dirt stains,

With permeating imperfections

That push people away.

A diamond,

Not a showpiece,

But a tool,

Not for pleasure,

But for purpose,

Bearing, unwillingly,

An inconvenient and bitter ugliness

Ever-present on the surface,

Disguising the inherent beauty

In the strength underneath,

The strength to

Strike hardship and keep striking,

To endure,

Defiantly,

In the face of

A life unforgiving

In a world unrelenting.