BUT NOBODY TOLD ME THE FUNERAL NEVER ENDS.

IT'S BEEN ELEVEN YEARS NOW, AND THE CASKET'S STILL LOWERING.

*"LEAVE ME HERE MOM. LEAVE ME HERE. I'M DEAD TOO."

Don't approach a dog unknown to you
Holding out your hand, making eye contact
You may frighten him
Let him come to you

Don't write a poem uninspired
It won't work out
In good time
Let it come to you

Don't go out there seeking love
Like a child with a butterfly net
Live your life
Let it come to you

You're a one night stand
But we spent too many nights
I lost count of it.

You're that unexpected kiss
On a drunken wasted night
Of vomits and *****.

You're that awkward hi
Exchanged by strangers who
Thought they both knew each other
But were clearly mistaken for another.

You're the bruise that turns blue
When I accidentally bump my leg
On the corner of the bed.

You're the scar that I never
Knew I had.

You're the bittersweet taste in
My mouth every morning.

You're the last thought lingering
In my head before slumber takes me
And you're the vagueness that
Haunts me in my dreams.

You're the scalding hot shower
In a cold freezing morning.

You're the boiling tea that numbs
My tongue for the rest of the day.

You're the obsession
I will never learn to let go of.

You're that person I will
Never get to call mine.

You're the one that got away.

You looked at me and your eyes fell
I saw the pain eating you alive
What exactly drove you to this state
I know well and recognize

You live and breathe in your own hell
That never seems to end
You seek and chase the very thing
That has caused your life to bend

Each day anew, you tell yourself
I am finished, I am through
But it calls to you, "Come numb yourself
And I'll take care of you"

There was a time not long ago
Your self-esteem was set so high
Now here you stand, in front of me,
So broken down
You can't look me in the eye

How I wish that I could take away
This power it has over you
And help you mend your broken life
But that responsibility lies with you

Until you admit you are powerless
And see that this insanity, you can't stop on your own
You'll continue living in your own hell
And it burns hotter than anything
You've ever known