CONFUSING as HELL —
not wanting me to leave but
not loving me now

ᴵ you feel the water
rising inches at a time
until you're neck-deep

ᴵᴵ you're underwater
telling yourself that you can
always hold your breath

ᴵᴵᴵ you've been under for
so long, you forgot what air
feels like in your lungs

ᴵⱽ but as the sea claims
the land every high tide — you
claimed the sea as yours

ⱽ you wake up in an
underwater castle that
you built with your hands

what am I good for
if I'm lost — adrift like a
cloud that holds no rain

you'll understand when
you're a parent — is a bad
way of parenting

you know you've got it
bad when you check your watch and
what was 10 is 2

tell me where, tell me
when I can find happiness —
so I can go there

please just let me melt
like small pats of  French butter
on warm Sunday toasts