When two people pretend to control the moon, always calling for bedtime right in the middle of your play

When two people pretend their arms can shelter you from a world of cold, taking responsibility for your soul

When two people, for years, swallow their tears in your presence, all so they can pretend they know what'll happen next

All so you'll believe they can control what happens next

All because something told them
That this is life as it should be.

This world is tragic
Never realizing we walk ourselves, tiptoed
Beyond the rushing water
Over the edge

Never realizing
We are just a step from trading the world for wings,
Feet for flight

Light years away, they'll see our world go electric and we'll already be dead.

Never realizing that the stars laugh at us
Until they too burn out
But always knowing the heartache
Tattooed into our chests
Scarring us, until
One day, our blood will break
And death itself will meet its end
Beyond the water and over the darkest edge
This tragic world will meet its end.

And what of ghosts haunting ghosts?
I see her dancing when I close my eyes
She twirls to the thrum of violins playing themselves
Spinning, twirling
Until the bones peek through her feet
And her skirt has beaten itself to tatters

I dreamt her as a child
And I wonder at that feat
I saw the future then, when now
I see nothing at all
Just the world spinning beyond my eyes, dizzier for my life
Twirling, endless
The music is endless
I am not.

I remember when she finally stumbles
Her ribs, her collarbones glisten pale in the lights
And the music tries again to drag her to her feet
But she is beyond its reach

Her corpse, cradled in Death's arms,
knows peace
I dreamt this, a child
The past living in circles
A prophecy, almost
That ghosts will come for ghosts
And that only corpses are beyond the music's reach.

My knees rub red against the cold tile floor and
I am holding my hair away from my face
Where did I learn to do this?

A finger down my throat, I gag, almost choke, eyes burn, sticky tears
The girl I used to be, long ago dead and trampled under my feet
I use her body as a stepping stool to reach
My own place of harm and peace

Please not a third time
Once is a mistake
Twice is a coincidence
But three times-
Three strikes, and you're out of luck, they say
I'm on my knees and behind me I hear the clock strike three
It's a death sentence, an addiction
It's acid washing over your teeth

I should've fought more
I just wanted to see my bones

I cry in my sleep.

I can't breathe.*
It seems,

We are all just a gathering of cells
Splitting ourselves in half
And in the process, losing ourselves
Dreading the day when something finally goes wrong
With the aging of our vigilance
We finally become
Cancer.

Time cannot catch our corner of the world
Speaking words until our lips are sore
I am smiling in the core of my soul

I'll miss you
Even though we're never truly gone
We'll still be sitting in our chairs
When rose petals fall