compression
suffocation
choked and drowned
horrible ways to die
worse still to live by
roiling turmoil within
dense weight and thick air without
a simple lump in the throat
a spreading tingle of doubt
can you too feel
can you too see
or is this just I, just me
a single solitary sample of sorrow
so woven and intwined
or a shared symptom of such suffering
sent forth into the mind