The walls close in around you.
The air has disappeared.
And now you finally realize,
It's far worse than you feared.
You are all alone in silence.
No one hears your screams.
No one can feel your fright;
As your tears roll down in streams.
The pain within is stifling;
But it cannot be released.
You scream to break the silence;
But at utterance it has ceased.
You breathe in mold and mildew
Of the coffin in which you hide.
Your feelings eat you away;
Too long they've been keep inside.
The pain you feel is endless;
The knife plunged deep within.
If only you'd repented
You might have forgotten this sin.
But it has been too long.
You waited and you stammered.
And while you hesitated,
Into the coffin, nails were hammered.
You shall never be set free,
For to it you are bound.
Your crime is trapped beside you 
As they lower you into the ground.
On your tombstone shall be written
"He lies with all his pain",
Because the life you led
Has made you go insane.
And as they lay the flowers
Beside your newly-dug tomb,
You understand your actions 
Have led you to this doom
The walls close in around you.
The air has disappeared.
And now you finally realize,
It's far worse than you feared.

         Alone in the darkness
         Head hanging down in pain
         His mind is full of rage
         He's bordering on insane
         It was  a crime of passion
         Her blood splattered on his chest
         He walked in the door
         He's forgotten all the rest
         Her body lays before him
         Her clothes in tatters and shreds
         How could she make him feel 
         It was better she was dead
         His mind is full of fragments
         As he sits upon her chair
         The mirage comes back to him
         Her last gasp for air
         
         The ring's still on her finger
         He thought they'd never part
         But now the icy wind
         Echoes in his empty heart
         
         How could she try to leave him
         How could she walk away
         She was his possession
         It was a price she had to pay
         There are welts on the neck
         Of his bride-to-be 
         Stab wounds in her chest
         "How could she try to leave me?"
         His body shakes with rage
         At the visions in his mind
         The fear in her eyes
         Something he never thought he'd find
         He couldn't live without her
         He knows, still clutching the knife
         "She'll be mine forever"
         He whispers, taking his own life
         The self-inflicted wound
         He aimed for his own heart
         There would be no life
         It they would be apart
         Their bodies lay together
         What a sick an twisted fate
         And all because of the thin line
         Between love and hate          


By Shelly Claman

          She stood atop of a building
          Cars below
          Blinded she was scanning, searching,
          Noting: the quietness
          She discovered the secret
          The picture was so abstract
          It was dark out there
          The darkness surrounded her 
          She was trapped in a box
          She could feel the infestation
          Screamed, "let me out" 
          She stood atop a building
          Cars below
          She felt the spirits
          Drawing her spirit out of her body
          The lock that caged her soul was broken
          As her body fell
          Her spirit remained
          Life blurred
          Reality became faint
          And all that was left to say was....
          "Is this a dream?"




A Collaborative work by Shelly and Jen Claman

His hands upon my body;
Against my neck a blade.
And in one vicious moment 
My life began to fade.
I was at his mercy;
At a stranger's will.
And all I could wonder
Was if he meant to kill.
The feel of his lips
Made my skin crawl.
His tight grasp upon me;
Would I make it through this all?
No one to hear my screams
As he ripped open my blouse.
This armed intruder
Had come into my house.
I had thought that I was safe,
But as I lay bound to my bed
I began to wonder
If it'd be better to be dead.
The rope around my arms
Chafed against my skin.
This was a game to him;
The only way to win.
I will never know
What was behind that daemon's eyes:
What made him take my body
As his only prize.
But as he plunged the knife
When his game was done,
He didn't know my strength;
That I would be who won.
And on the witness stand
I looked into his eyes.
A rapist sat before me,
Claiming it was lies.
But as the bars closed,
As he entered into his cell,
He began to realize
He'd created his own hell.