Broken; When the Party’s Over
Surely, they will turn off the lights—
that’s what it takes for someone to die.
Blackness, inky and stagnant,
an escape from reality.
No sound, no thought—just silence.
The party is in full swing.
And I’ve climbed my way out of hell,
seen it, tasted it, felt it
learned that it only takes one shot
to snuff out a life.
The music plays loud, masking the cracks,
the laughter false, the joy borrowed.
Underneath the glamour,
there's a void that grows,
a shadow that no one acknowledges,
a truth that we all hide.
Still, I’ve always waited
for the party to end.
Yet, you might be chased out before then.
And so, I carry this fear
deep, abiding, haunting:
Will it end too soon? Or not at all?
Indeed, we are all broken.
And when the music stops,
when the lights dim to nothing,
will we find peace in the dark?
Or will we unravel completely,
lost to the silence we once craved?
©® Victoria Damilola