There's something insidious
In the way she smiles
Quirked lips painted blood red
Eyes foggy and greased with thick shadows
She'll purr, her tongue tickling your skin
Every word she breathes is air to your lungs
Poisoned with smoke
She's an aphrodisiac
She'll make you forget everything
Fill you with nothing
Until your brain is swollen
And numbness settles into the deepest scars
You'll think of nothing but her
And the way she smiles

I watched as loved ones
Became crippled with despair
Anguish and agony
Twisting their lips and limbs
Until all that's left of them
Was a broken, burdened mass

She cried out for me
Pleading for me to take it away
The memories, the pain
She says it's making her insane
Her madness is a poison
Seeping and seething

I watched it all
As if it were happening to me
Every pill, every blade
Every vile word she thought
She thought about herself
Her worth was nothing

She cried
There was nothing I could do
I tried to help her feel more
Feel everything nothing had stolen
But her trembling fingers
Took more and more and more
And more

Until there was nothing left

Wandering through every darkness
The creature has never been curious
Shadows cast the only illusions that matter
And the creature has never been curious
But that tiny girl
With her eyes wide and wandering
Her smile sure and unfaltering
She cast a shadow greater than the darkness
Tempting that creature
Tempering that creature
It followed her into the worst of places
All beautiful, serene
All lonely
It followed her to the edge of the darkness
Where she lit a flame
Ignited the entire world
And even then it followed still
The creature was never more curious
Of the tiny girl whose courage
Conquered more than any light ever could

Why do professors think we can read one hundred pages in a day
Why do professors think we only have their class to worry about
Why do professors
Why

As a consequence of life my heart is calloused and cold
My skin has hardened over scars both painful and old

There was an old soul
Down by the old mill
Where we used to play
With sticks and stones
We built forts out of bones
Of our loved ones
Like broken glass and broken ribs
Stolen children from their cribs
We wandered lost for some time
Chasing memories into the fade

Ask me
I’ll say I’m fine
But between you and I
I’m not
My nerves are shot
My lungs are aching
With each breath
I force myself to take
And every smile hides
The broken heart
And the withering mind
Because I’m not weak
I don’t know if I’m trying to convince you
Or myself
But I say it anyways
I’m fine