The Man

 If you look really closely at him you are able to see
that this middle-age man is not smiling
he’s scared of the future, and haunted by his past,
He has dreams but believes that it’s all a bit too late
he feels insecure, inadequate, unworthy a failure.
He hides it under a mask of jokes and fake smiles,
but inside he’s dying, deep inside he is slowly dying


if you look even closer at the this man’s cheek
there is no evidence that he’s recently been slapped
no evidence that he has been head butted or kicked,
there are no finger or choke marks no bruises, no cuts
You can tell from his bloodshot eyes that he cries a lot,
He maybe cries way to much for a man of his age.
He knows everything about life he wants to know
he doesn’t care about the horror that’s coming his way.
He knows fear, he knows loneliness, he knows pain,
he knows punishment, he knows his place but most of all
he knows how and when to hide his tears just to avoid
appearing to be weak and an easy to target victim.
he has already worked out a strategy to be diplomatic
especially with the truth about his feelings, his condition,
to avoid alerting anyone who would do  more lasting harm
its mind blowing - but he simply plods on,
sandwiched by fear and loneliness
to him this is his normality

If only he had known what was round the corner
he might have successfully become yet another suicide victim
or maybe he would have feared the affect that might
have on others especially those being left behind.
Its fascinating what you can get from just looking
At a middle aged man
when you look closely and remember
what it was like to be like him