I am 5

For Ariel 

Today is my birthday, but I do not know it.

The days and nights bleed together in fog of dank darkness,

In a tunnel beneath life.

Life that continues,

Feet marching, running, skipping

Above me.

Without me.

My hopes, dreams, laughter

Swallowed in a black hole

Whose gravitational pull I cannot

Escape.

Whose base evil grips my dirty hands,

Refusing to relinquish me to the

Light.

I have forgotten the smile of the sun,

Just as surely as it has forgotten me.

I have lost memory of the taste of cake.

My red hair flows,

Beyond my shoulders,

Neglect etched in the length of its bright strands.

Who will blow out candles to celebrate my turn

Around a sun that shut its eyes on me?

A sun that has not seen me for ten months?

A son buried alive?

Lion of G-d

Tousled mane aflame,

Silenced by indifference.

I roar inwardly,

For the life I lost,

My future stolen,

My Pride plundered.

I sit in silence,

Waiting for the freedom

To Roar my Return.

Sing for me today.

Let my voice rage through

You.

See me, though I am not there.

I am here.

I am waiting.

I am five.