Once I roamed these halls with life

Each square brought joy anew

Windows into lives I sought

Ones I wished I could leap through

Soon, however, I realized

These windows led to wasted lives

and to myself, I swore,

that I would be so much more

Powerless kings and forgotten tyrants, I laughed,

Sat envious of me

For they were stuck in frozen times

And I was young and free

But my ambitions were in vain

For I was not aware

Of the barren, desolate land

Which fate had well-prepared

With age I came to hate the eyes

That watched my every move

They were more alive than I,

These paintings in a room

My resentment for the path I took

Grew with passing years

I watched as I fell victim to

The worst of my own fears

I am old now.

Death, only a near call.

Sometimes I laugh,

And then I cry

At the irony of it all.