It’s a thief that comes in the wee hours of the morning,
Magically opening doors and breaking through windows,
It cares not for your jewels or cash,
Or for other markers of luxury.

Instead, its presence wears you down,
It engages in a theft that leaves your body and mind weaker and weaker,
Leeching off your mind and the grey matter that houses it.

It leaves you incapable of remembering who is who,
It stays in the house until you leave in a body bag,
It doesn’t care for any other tags other than the ones seen at a mortuary.

It sits on your shoulders and eventually shrouds your entire body,
Constantly wearing you down like a small trickle on rock, until eventually you are nothing more than a channel for water.

It leaves you wanting release from such a miserable existence,
But keeps you alive long enough to keep you alive to watch your own suffering,
Unlike watching YouTube videos in the 2000s, it will not stop for any buffering.

It reduces you to leading an existence marked by subsistence,
It is a cruel thief for it knows your address and doesn’t give you a chance to change the locks,
It wields a knife that slow slits your throat and stabs the hearts of those that love you.

It changes you to a shade found in Hades,
Devoid of happiness and joy,
But when you exit, its reign is finally over,
But much like the rule of a tyrant, its scars are deep and take time to heal,
And it will come back for those who succeed you,
Lurking until it was allowed to show itself.