Collapse

Back-pedalling into the black,

but I can still make out the figures

that will threaten my well being.

The wind will rise and fall,

but never sway from side to side.

Progression halted,

encapsulating the fluid weave of death like

a garden that contains

all of it’s arrested offspring.

We’re afraid to force our legs

to break free from the earth

and take the first step

towards our insecurity.

Sleep away your selfishness.

Slip into collapse, a still-like

state of disregard from which you can’t fall back.

You never fully moved me,

I’ve been embedded

in the dust

and my mind has been ravaged by war.

Pray for farewell

as if I was yours to lose.

I would love to love you,

if you were someone else.

So forgive me for being unresponsive.

I’m sure it’s hard to train your ears

to hear me crying out for help

with my lips sewn shut by stitches

of my own indeci- sion.

So I’ll speak in whispers to permit my throat relief.

I bite my tongue, fill my mouth with blood,

and swallow enough to kill me

before I’m forced to lose more sleep.

I would love to love you, if you were someone else.

Am I fit to walk alone again,

or will you save me from myself?

Breathe life into me, be all

that I can see or carry on

without me

and just know I wished you well.