Look around at

The living dead

Weary eyes

Tired of staring

Into the abyss

Of a bright screen

Exhausted voices

Chattering to fill

The empty silence

Of being alone

Their minds

No longer lively,

Excited,

And imaginative,

Are filled with whispers of thoughts

Sad remnants of their previous,

Joyous lives

Walking in a concrete jungle

Devoid of any life at all

Anything but the sad

Lifeless people

Wandering the streets

Watch

And wonder

Where did their youth go

Where did the smiles

The laughs

The bubbly appearance

With bright colors

And crayons in hand

Where did it go?

Why is everyone so

So

Gray?

Where did all the color go?

It’s like

It’s almost like

Everyone walks around

With the hand of death

Grasping their shoulders

And the weight

Of a million things

Clinging to their backs

Like massive stones,

Boulders even,

Tied to their waists

Being dragged around the world

By their heavy and weary feet

But look,

The world around them

Is not quite so dull

It bustles

And bumbles

With life,

Sound and lights

Surrounding them

But their light,

Their hope,

Gone.

Though they live

In a vivacious,

Colorful world,

They themselves

Are pale and gray

They have been bleached

Stripped of their color

And joy

And replaced with tools,

Machines,

Hearts that beat

Only because they need to

Eyes staring straight ahead

With no thought behind them

Feet wandering aimlessly

Until they find their set destination

The world is broken

And neither these colorful signs

Nor sounds of life

Nothing

Can heal this wound.

Even if you took a tired man

From the street

And painted him in color,

He would not regain his youth

Or hope

Or joy

He would remain

Dull

And gray

On the inside

Just as tired

And weary

As he was

Before

The colors

And masks

That people wear

Mean nothing

Compared

To the clouds

In their minds,

The weights they carry

They are empty

And lifeless,

Autonomous beings

Being driven forward

Only by the force

Of time

And the faintest will

To regain the color

The radiance

And ecstasy

That they once had

Long,

Long ago

When the world

Was a different place