The Living Dead | Teen Ink

The Living Dead

June 25, 2024
By Three-Thirty SILVER, Memphis, Tennessee
Three-Thirty SILVER, Memphis, Tennessee
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped." -Andy Weir, The Martian


Look around at

The living dead


Weary eyes

Tired of staring

Into the abyss

Of a bright screen


Exhausted voices

Chattering to fill

The empty silence

Of being alone


Their minds

No longer lively,

Excited,

And imaginative,

Are filled with whispers of thoughts

Sad remnants of their previous,

Joyous lives


Walking in a concrete jungle

Devoid of any life at all

Anything but the sad

Lifeless people

Wandering the streets


Watch

And wonder

Where did their youth go


Where did the smiles

The laughs

The bubbly appearance

With bright colors

And crayons in hand


Where did it go?


Why is everyone so

So

Gray?


Where did all the color go?


It’s like

It’s almost like

Everyone walks around

With the hand of death

Grasping their shoulders


And the weight

Of a million things

Clinging to their backs


Like massive stones,

Boulders even,

Tied to their waists


Being dragged around the world

By their heavy and weary feet


But look,

The world around them

Is not quite so dull


It bustles

And bumbles

With life,

Sound and lights

Surrounding them


But their light,

Their hope,

Gone.


Though they live

In a vivacious,

Colorful world,

They themselves

Are pale and gray


They have been bleached

Stripped of their color

And joy


And replaced with tools,

Machines,

Hearts that beat

Only because they need to


Eyes staring straight ahead

With no thought behind them


Feet wandering aimlessly

Until they find their set destination


The world is broken

And neither these colorful signs

Nor sounds of life


Nothing


Can heal this wound.


Even if you took a tired man

From the street

And painted him in color,

He would not regain his youth

Or hope

Or joy


He would remain

Dull

And gray

On the inside


Just as tired

And weary

As he was

Before


The colors

And masks

That people wear


Mean nothing

Compared

To the clouds

In their minds,

The weights they carry


They are empty

And lifeless,

Autonomous beings

Being driven forward

Only by the force

Of time


And the faintest will

To regain the color

The radiance

And ecstasy

That they once had


Long,

Long ago


When the world

Was a different place



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