trail of crumbs

I am walking inside a serpentine maze and I see myself at every turn
why i am here seems somehow less important than how to find my way out
sometimes there is light but usually it is dark and the shiny walls play hide and seek with my mind
i see the faces of my family and friends and people long past and gone
calling to me and comforting me and some just stare
i feel so alone when the walls keep on going after every turn
I find some steps near a wall and climb to the top
there is a world of walls stretching to the horizon and I hear scuffling and crying and songs
There is no where to go but into another maze where someone else sees me as a ghost or pale reflection in the dark
my hoarse cries echo in the bare passageway and my eyes see only the gloom
i sit dejected to be finally free and see there is no freedom
only the wall on which i sit until i descend
retuning to the corridor that loops back again and again
i think of hansel and gretel and the trail of crumbs
to know where i have come from and maybe that i am headed in a new direction
i scratch at the corner wall to mark my path but the wall is smooth and hard
i run and run as fast as i can my breath ragged and hard
i can smell my fear as the walls get closer and closer
finally the corridor shrinks to a tunnel and then squeezes into a single hole
i push and push to get through but it is too small and there is a barrier
Have i reached the end is this my destiny stuck halfway through
i see light and hear muffled sounds
i smell some sharp piercing odor and suddenly i feel a giant fist tighten and i am propelled forward into the light
bursting the thick wet barrier and I scream and scream as i fill my lungs to scream again
i see only blurs of masked faces and the soft flesh of my escape