The One Who Does Nothing

As the world cracks into chaos.

As the world 
Cracks into chaos,

    One sits and watches.

Restrained by the will 
Of a thousand tiny voices, 
Saying: “Do not get involved”;

    One does nothing.

As mayhem ensues,
And causality cascades. 
As action and reaction 
Collide in chains;

    Nothing. 

And they see it all; 
The wild and the violent, 
And the brutal everything 
Of every moment thereafter.

    One knows how it has come 
    To be this way;

And their body fills with regret, 
And their heart heaves with sorrow, 
And their skin fizzes with shame.
And yet;
 
    One sits.
    One watches.
    One does nothing.
 
And consequence spills over,
And floods into the world,
And laps at their shoes,
And fills to their lap,
And still; 

    One remains;
    Anchored in place,

Drenched and drowning
In the outcomes
That wash the hands 
They hold in restraint;

    One is lost in the deluge,

Afloat in the fallout,
They breathe their last breath, 
As they sink in the sorrow 
That sucks at their soul.

    One relents at last,
    And screams at the world,
    “Save me!”

And the world swallows them whole. 

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