All I Want by Mark Barrett

All I Want

by Mark Barrett

All I want in life is to be the glass casing surrounding a fifty-watt bulb. I want to be the warm, soothing center of my universe,

relaying light and energy to a southwestern ranch-style house back porch.

A temple for the tired masses of moths who, inexorably drawn to my sanctuary of light,

will rest for eternity upon my altar.

So protective of my world and yet so fragile

as to be shattered by the errant stone's throw of a child at play.

Broken, helpless and unable to recreate the warm, dimly lit world I knew.

So cracked, faded and burnt out,

the moths commit suicide in other dimly lit galaxies

with enough power to fry them right into a dimly lit moth heaven.

Now, I have lain dormant and abandoned in this place for years.

My sharp, jagged edges encrusted with the dried blood of young and old alike,

with whom I have malevolently tried to share some small measure of my pain.

But they always had someone to tend to their wounds.

This place of twisted metal and soiled diapers,

lost hopes and broken dreams,

this is where the last vestiges of a life lived, vacillate and prepare to die

and all I want is to be...