Time

kills

everything,

and the best we can do

is to stay alive

for five minutes longer,

and the soul battles

all the things that might kill it:

other souls (black, rotten, with gaping holes)

and what those souls create (Turmoil and Madness).

Have you ever been around someone, where you thought, you were going to suffocate?

You can feel their anger and contempt—they don’t want to see you,

but they greet you with a smile on their face (one on one).

But in a group, they don’t know you.

This is the battle of souls, and you can’t win, by playing their game.

In fact, you lose, when your soul dies—and there isn’t much that can bring it back to life, although that can happen—

usually, when you have purged the poison, and nurtured the flame

with God’s breath.

Most of us experience that

when we are alone, listening to timeless music, or reading words, 500 years old, that we have thought ourselves.

If you feel that you are losing your soul, it means that you still have one left to lose (Paraphrased Bukowski).