Eyes sink, veins swell, inks smear across this battled face. In drowning these spirits,I have lost; they have won. To see them snarl, that voracious pack of ‘professionals’ – baying, teeth bared, ravenous – grinds my teeth down to shards. I'll take all I can compile: body, blood, and bile. Devotion unparalleled, I'd drink the cold sweat straight from your brow. Leeching your life in black and white. Taking your dismay for sustenance. A hint of life, to hide the stains, disgusts when lies and truth conspire to smear the oils across your face. Shroud. Choke. Quell. Suffer. Smother the lens. How they all come running at the drop of a pill. There's a living to be made in violating simple human rights. A hand extends offering help but, as I uncurl each of the fingers, I find sat in the midst of its palm yet another poison I cannot help but consider.