The Zombie

Looks just like me and you.
a head,
2 arms,
2 legs,
a mouth a nose and 2 eyes.

Walking like you
to an office somewhere in a city
to sit at desk like you do.

To punch at the keys for 8 hours a day.
Then retire
to a home cooked meal
and a glass of full-bodied red.

Moving, seeing, doing,
just like all the other humans
but feeling nothing
No connection
no sorrow
no euphoria
no black days
no anxiety nor mania.

Just a flat line
Undetected by modern medicine.
Unexplained.

------------------
Modern day philosophers are undecided as to whether 'zombies' exist. By zombies they mean hypothetical beings who are physically indistinguishable from 'normal' people but are not conscious.

It seems a crazy thought and yet perhaps not too alien when you get to thinking about it. Consciousness is about being, feeling, making connections. Connections, real connections are so hard to come by; mental states can be explained if you seek the explanation. So what is real? I know what makes me feel real and it's not conversations or substances or things or shaky mental states; it's intimacy and it's hard to come by. But when you find it, even for just a moment, it's glorious.