Can you help me?

Can you help me feel something?

The pain of a broken heart is
long forgotten and
the ache of longing
is what my heart longs for
so
can you help me feel something?

Can we be real for once?
Can you be real and
not just in my head, for once?

I am done running around
from oasis to oasis
spending more and more time
under the hot sun
running to the water
eyes set
on a shimmer
on the horizon.

Can you help me feel something, for once?
Can you stop being a mirage for once?

Once a week,
every week,
the sinkhole opens up
in that desert
in my head
and the sand drops away
beneath my feet
but I don't.

I don't fall down with the sand,
I just remain there
suspended in mid air,
the sand flowing down
bringing the oases nearer and nearer
till they're streams splashing
just beneath my feet
but I'm still hopelessly suspended
desperately trying to reach for the
water but it keeps flowing away
as I keep being stuck
as the moon inches down
and the stars begin to fall
and the tempting sinkhole
swallows it all
leaving behind a darkness
that blends
into the black hole
but refuses to suck
me in
leaving me instead with
nothing but
the void,
the black hole, and
the event horizons
of all that once was.

Can you let me see for once?
Can you stop being me for once?
Can you help me, for once?

-Abdullah Alam