Comfortably Numb
She’d watched it now for forty years – a sickening, slow decay,
A population bent on self-destruction, come what may;
She wondered where it all went wrong, and how this had begun,
The fall of all she’d known and loved … society had won.
It hurt to watch, it hurt to feel the loss of innocence,
A world in chronic pain with little hope for recompense;
She’d lost her will, her strength to cope, she’d lost her need to “feel”,
And so she sought an antidote to save her from the “real”.
She craved a means within her mind to distance her from hate,
Too vulnerable and sensitive to watch it escalate;
No medication strong enough could block the vile decline,
The final breakdown looming large, by horrid, cruel design.
The doctors had a remedy (they always did it seemed),
“Desensitize Your Feelings” was the campaign someone schemed;
A bill was passed by politicians – ALL were to abide;
For years it had been in effect … most feelings were denied.
The rhetoric they touted for all people large and small,
Was just a tiny operation … nothing much at all;
It numbed you from the shock and fear, alleviated cares,
Desensitized from hopeless crimes and tragic world affairs.
The thought of never “feeling” was too ludicrous, she’d thought,
And so, she’d dodged the system – it was something she had fought;
She watched the news, she saw it all, she “felt” each sad disgrace,
As nightly anchors read the news, indifference on their face.
She’d tried – Oh, how she’d tried to disassociate her mind,
But as the world grew worse, the horrors played in sick rewind;
The images became too much for anyone to bare,
And so she gave up willingly with quiet, sad despair.
Now here she lay upon a table, though it seemed surreal,
Her wrists and legs were shackled to the coldness of the steel,
Utensils, sleek and shiny lined the counters to her side,
While sterile scents fought rot and stench within her mind’s collide.
A lamp shone down upon her, shadows moved just out of sight,
While murmurs in the distance filled her shattered mind with fright;
Her memories, like pinpricks teased her thoughts with fear and doubt,
She strained to hear the voices as she glided in and out.
Awash in endless agony, adrift in pointless pain,
She was the last remaining hope within a world insane;
The doctor said, “Don’t worry now, we’ve all been there before.”
“You won’t “feel” anything my dear – not now or evermore.”
She drifted off to never land, awoke another day,
Upon her couch, remote in hand, the TV down the way;
She flicked the channels back and forth, as ghastly pictures rolled,
The horrors of the day espoused through voices plain and cold.
The anchors read the nightly news, she listened without care,
Another death, another riot … chaos in the air;
She followed with a hollow heart – a “Stepford” gaze to some …
Society had won … for she was comfortably numb.