Saddened Gaze

In a saddened gaze
I watch the light fade slow
What once was warmth
Is now only the shadow of my soul

I fade from existence
With nothing left to praise
Each breath, a burden uninvited
Each dawn, another grave

Oh, this beauty they forged in lies
A fragile mask for endless pain
They told us to love our torment
And called our shackles grace

They filled our minds with holy delusion
Painted heaven as our cage
A kind God to calm our wounds
And fear to feed our chains

Every day a new despair is born
We never asked to dream again
We were forced to exist
Condemned to believe

Pain was called salvation
Guilt, the proof of love
We knelt before our captors
Believing we were free above

In the end, we are deceived by faith
Our prayers, echoes of fear
Belief, the price of obedience
And fear, the crown they wear

In this saddened gaze I fall
My hope dissolved, my heart undone
The end was never death itself
But what we called salvation