An Addicted Poem by ashok jadhav

(A figure stands center stage, restless, fidgeting, voice trembling between defiance, shame, and raw confession.)
I am addicted.
There… I said it.
The word tastes bitter on my tongue, yet sweeter than the lie I've been telling myself for years.
I chase it… always chase it…
A shadow, a flame, a high that disappears the moment I grasp it.
Do you think it's choice?
Do you think it's weakness?
No.
It is hunger.
It is a need that claws from inside,
A voice that screams louder than reason,
A fire that burns the bridges behind me
Even as I swear I will cross no more.
I have lost… oh, I have lost…
Moments, trust, love, even pieces of my own self.
Yet still I return.
Because the pull is deeper than shame,
Stronger than fear,
And I… I am trapped inside my own desire.
And still, there is a part of me that watches,
Quiet, small, trembling…
A part that whispers: You are not just this.
You are more. You can rise.
But right now, tonight… I am addicted.
I am enslaved.
I am both hunter and hunted,
And the battle rages inside me
While the world outside moves on, oblivious.
I am addicted…
And I fear I might always be.