Sleep’s ellusion

That first step
Getting into bed
So comfortable but
My mind draws me out instead
Won’t simply rest
Reminding me that sleep
Might as well be dead
But life has its moments
Those times when extreme comfort combine
With anxiety
Talking about having to go to work
To interact
And my brain
Instead of the sleep I know will help
Instead throws out these things like reading
Like playing games
Like taking apart my fan to clean the motor
All to keep the anxiety at bay
Worst coping mechanism
It causes me harm to follow its prescribed treatment
So why am I still awake
Instead of drifting
Can’t sleep when tomorrows just a few hours
I miss the days when I knew that by waking up and going to work I’d be with someone I loved
Not because I miss the relationship
But that balm of sleeping, in a rush to get to the next day
I miss that
Instead
I have tomorrow
Another day without succor
Another day without you

A dream, a hope, a life, a lie

Fingertips trace lines
Nerve endings echo with the memory
No burning
No bonfire
Lines drawn in skin
In promise
Our hearts
Nuclear fire
The cool etching
A dalliance of forever
No mere moment enough
No mere forever too much
Bound in deeds
No debt but to ourselves
Come take my hand
Let mortal concern
Be but wind
And let lips meet
In becoming
Two into one

Marathon without end

Having that hard time
Relating to young rhyme
Each year passing
Pushing me past
My sell by date
Not intended to make you feel bad
Just a life lived
Gives perspectives you’ll never have
That empathy gained
From the shard poking through skin
From years when
To touch me was to come away bloody
There is a broken
That hurts so much
That spreading that pain
Is the only thing that brings temporary relief
Until the pain you cause leads to the spiral down
And here I am at the end of a long road
Looking towards the next journey
And just wondering how to leave the pain
Behind
If I even can
Or maybe it’s just this deep hope
That maybe there is a future
Where happiness is present
Rather than at so so distant remove
The briefest hint of orange and chocolate
The phantom of a phantom
One step removed from a memory
Instead, just wandering
How to be lost when all around you are destinations
There’s no bells ringing here
No messages
Just make that decision
And wander into the break
One last attempt at drowning
One last retreat
A kiss made from yearning
Instead of a choice to be better
Words and pain tumble out
And only sleep
Offers refuge

Past the sell by date

Trip the light
Each step a echo of the ones before
Each echo a hollow empty
This expanse without purpose
What use is a bullet already fired
Just a spent cartridge
Left to rot

Missing freedom

slowly being boiled alive
Each day the heat ratchets up
Each day one more responsibility
Weighs down
Thought I was at the top of my game
Turns out I was just a frog down a well
Living on the wheel
Paycheck to paycheck
One bad day away from an ending
Lost in the weeds
Burned out or burning
Doesn’t matter when you have no choices
Each day just a step closer to ending
Looking forward to that eternal relief

Jaw clenched against the pain

Sitting in silence
One last reminder
One last pretender
One last link to the frozen past
Indelible ink
Marked in skin so deep
Its 7 years by 7 before it shows
Kiss me I’m yours
Give over to fire and passion
Don’t wait
I’m looking for that sign
But all I hear is silence
The too loud voice of my own thoughts
Reiterating
Over and over
What silence really means
All while hoping that it doesn’t

The last door you’ll ever enter

Behind every smile there is a quiet madness
A sad story you’ll rarely hear
A melancholy note written in haste
One last attempt
Before that abrupt end
Which everyone says was so unexpected
And yet so inevitable