It is a friend

draped in silver and gold;

an unacquainted perfection

that speciously entices me,

I gawk at its boastful promiscuity

that intrigues and seduces.

With blurred inhibitions,

I gently clutch its hand.

I dangle from the edge of its vanity

as Trust mockingly whispers,

“Apparition, Apparition.

Achievement, Achievement.”

As the day dawns and dusks and

the waves ebb and flow,

my friend becomes a foe.

Shadows rise from below-cradling me

as impressions of my footprints

fashion an abyss of blissful nightmares.

An abyss,

that embraces me in its desolate warmth,

an abyss,

that awards grandiose plaques of merit.

Then, the shadow creeps above and I,

among the lingering souls, am hollow, hungry.

The glimmering façade fades and dulls

and it is left as bronze and stone.

Still, it fools me.

It takes the shape of a familiar poison,

indeed, a forbidden fruit,

that drives the hunger I once contested.

Nonetheless, I crave it.

Again,

Trust lingers behind sneeringly.

“Apparition, Apparition.

Achievement, Achievement.”

Butterflies flood my stomach

with uneasiness and troublesome desire.

I am wholly devoured

as every inch of remonstrance flees.

Evermore,

I leap toward it with hesitant insistence.

With unsung willingness,

I welcome the vacant validation

of that one hundred percent.

Achievement beckons

with fleeting satisfaction.

I peer into its hollowed soul.

“Euphoria,

I call-call upon you with a litany of praise;

I am confounded.

Whilst whispering blissful nothings into your ear,

you award me with a starved ego!

Nothing is left unchanged,

but the shadow on the wall

of the unrecognizable, scrawny figure

that greets my reflection;

blinds me.

Unrecognizable…”

Melancholy,

with a fiendish countenance,

ravages from beneath,

and I immerse myself

with a devilish smile.

Again,

that rush of that glorifying feeling visits me

with addictive intent.

I bite the bullet unreluctantly.

“I achieve.”

I repeat those seven desolate letters

that drown me in fleeting contentment.

“I achieve. I achieve. I achieve.”

And the words linger in the air;

dissipate; forgone.

Evermore,

I am bound to Achievement’s validation.