Stump

I used to be so big and strong

Yeah that's me alright

Straight backed beside the trail

Where hardly anyone notices

Me anymore, because I'm not pretty

I used to know my right from wrong

People pass me by swinging sticks

Or riding bikes, treading on the roots

I used to have (and that still ache)

The original phantom limbs

I used to never be afraid

They hurt, the ache ferocious

Cold steel hammers on my bones

Fucking hikers and bikers, man,

Don't care because I don't scream

(I used to be somebody!)

Silent counsel I keep, because really?

My mouth has gone missing

Fallen away, ruined by the Challenger Deep

pressure of time on the carcass

I used to have something inside

Pressure: eventually will collapse me

External shell, fissured, baked by sun,

Cracked by cold and wind, illusions

That the core is warm and molten

Now its just this hole that's open wide

Void opening up inside, ignorant eyes can't see it

Rot setting in because death creeps quietly

Causing the pocked face you can see

And I would try to hide but for lack of hands

I used to want it all

Wanting it all is a foreign country

A former cradle that made my limbs

Swell fat and strong and near perfect

Until I fell, insect-hollowed, lightning-beaten

I used to be somebody

I was.

Photo credit: Irish Gumbo
Italicized phrases: Lyrics used without permission, from "Down In It" by Nine Inch Nails