I can feel the blood
Running through my veins
The soul that sits
Somewhere deep within me
I can think clear
I can breathe easy
I can calm myself again

The anxious feelings
Like a shaken beehive
Buzzing and stinging
Beneath my flesh and bone
Have stilled and silenced,
Relief and respite return

My eyes are searching
For nothing in particular
And yet everything they catch
Feels like a piece
Of some long lost sanctuary
I didn't know I needed

It's a liminal space
Where the only proof there is
That time is passing
Is the sun rising and setting
The colors changing in the clouds

A liminal space whose soundtrack
Is the sounds of the cicadas
Squirrels jumping through the trees
Distant fireworks from a nearby attraction
And the busy quiet that always follows
The liveliness of the wilderness

A lull washes over everything in this place
With a hand on the cool metal of the rail
And the paint chipping off under your fingers
An absence of anything profound
Simply just one more balcony
Amidst a million others just the same

Where do I begin
To clean my heart of you?
Should I scrub each vessel
Douse my veins in bleach
To finally be rid of it all?

Every time I think I've moved on
You say just enough words
To pull me right back in
I want to know
Can I get clean again
Or will I forever be addicted
To a love that no longer exists?

I walk through this world blindfolded
Echolocating my way with just your heartbeat
Each pulse guiding me through blurry lines
Making the world around me clear as crystal
I trust alone in the visibility each beat gives me

And though your heartbeat fades so soft
I follow the breadcrumbs you leave me
Ultrasound and hardly there at all, perhaps a dream
I'll still find you in this endless pitch black sky

I'm like a vampire, or perhaps more like a fruit bat
What I crave is something sweeter than blood
Only you would do, my favorite chalice
My thirst consumes me, such hunger becomes me
With no true beginning and no true end

I glide across the starlight, seeking you out
With my echoes in the dark
The sound of your heart, brighter than any flame
Lighting my way, and like a moth I follow
On gilded wings to you I soar

But all fires burn out
No matter how eternal their light seems
And all moths return to dust
No matter how immortal their dreams

I'll trust only
In my echoes in the dark

Poem by: Layla Smith (Pyrrhathepoet)

i loved you with all my wildfire heart
but our forest has burned to the ground
there's nothing left in the dust
nothing left in the ashes—
but look if you must

I don't remember what it felt like to be in love
I don't remember what it felt like to be loved either
I used to stay up all night dreaming about us
About this perfectly imperfect life we could've had
I used to cry myself to sleep wishing you loved me

I imagined waking up next to you in the mornings
How I would leave poetry on your pillow
Telling you I loved you at every chance I'd get
I dreamt of loving you as deeply as I could

And now I dream of a world without you
Digging the depths of my heart for reasons
To love yourself, anything to make you stay

I dream of losing you how I never thought I would
While parts of me still burn for you so bright

Death knells are chasing away my wedding bells

Strawberries taste of nostalgia
they are memories on my tongue
the ripe feeling of summertime
and laughter under the sun

I'm unfolding banana peels from my eyes
the way a butterfly emerges it's chrysalis
maybe if I come from a cocoon of yellow
i'll be reborn a shade of optimism

Blueberries are rainy days
with their bittersweet comfort
in tiny drops
that never seem to last long enough

All my coins sink to the bottom of wishing wells
Ladybugs fly away with my hopes
And dandelions disappear with my dreams

Every birthday my prayers blow out with the flames
Shooting stars pass with unfulfilled promises
And wishbones never break for me

Maybe if I catch the falling leaves in autumn
If I tie my ritual ribbons around every trees branches
Or manifest with every ring I wear

I could one day save you from your despair

But for now,
I will continue wishing on everything I see
Seeking stars and elusive dreams