High Speed, Slow Motion

(I wrote this when I learned of my daughters addiction, when it was still a horrible secret and the shock had me reeling)

The atmosphere constricts

You cannot impact this moment

No matter how strongly you yearn to

You can only watch it happen

Like a movie in an unknown language

You understand the gist

But cannot comprehend the words

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These moments cannot be avoided

You cannot swerve into another lane

You cannot brace yourself

It’s high-speed slow-motion

You can only stand by, horror stricken

While the massacre takes place

-

This is the devils end game

Someone else’s nightmare

Any moment you will wake up

Exhausted

Panic stricken

But awake

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Only you can’t

This is real life

Not make believe

And you’re standing in the center

Of the twisting and turning plot

Waiting for the crushing weight of the avalanche

That kills everyone but the hero

Which, by the way, isn’t you

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