I’ve been feeding on the world’s knowledge,
The grandiose and seductive parlance,
The panache of well-spoken words,
And the alluring cadence of oratory,
Virulent emptiness subtly sprinkled.

We are the salt of the earth after all,
And our taste is in finely crafted words.

I hear the applause after a speech,
And my heart is content with joy to the brim.
I’m sorry,
That’s just my ego smiling.
My heart is in chains, and my soul is starving.
My spirit bleeds in longing, as I feel every retinue,
Of my essence fade into the nothingness of all that is vain.
Help me, make the pain go away.

Untangle my soul from this vile embrace of all that is vain,
Even as my broken spirit clings,
To the mirage of encomium and empty chants,
From a multitude as lost as I am.

As the voices quiet down,
Help me to hear the wisdom of your words,
As your voice calms my soul,
And my spirit, thus fed, becomes whole.