when innocence meets death
mourners reside
between unpaved roads
and shallow streets

when innocence meets death
sinister screams;
a mother cries

when innocence meets death
sullen eyes do not tear
terminal mirrors end
upon hallways;
empty;
clear

when innocence meets death
a certain caress
bonds with unknown;
tranquil;
endear

when innocence meets death
sanctity arises;
regretless, whole; no fear

when innocence meets death
he holds it
he breathes;
he understands that death
is not fatal at all.

slathered in vain
drenched in ego
and reek of self

i can no longer feel
the soul that once sang into my eyes
and for miles i followed
the road paved

and i was there when manhood struck
when success was fluid
and love potential

but your heart is not kind
it does not speak the language of compromise or
compassion

and you thought you were free
yet you had everything to lose

it must ache now
force fed pride that consumed everything you'd done

today my muscles sang
songs of broken melodies
pieced together
as my breath became rhythmic
push till it does not matter
and pull until it does
the saltwater rid me
of what i thought was the end
but then it all came back
and i contracted once again
savior is for the dead

She looks at herself in the mirror
and sees an unfamiliar version of 'what could have been'
her skin is translucent
arteries are illustrated throughout her bare chest and arms
she looks down
it is not the body that she built
it is not the statue that she sculpted
there are legs but they do not run
they are latent and purposeless and blue

She looks back up
touches the mirror--right where her bowed lips are
they have not been grazed by another being since the last time she saw herself
the bags underneath her eyes
scream
I have been carrying too much
her eyes which once shone with possibility and ambition are now glazed over--impossible to reach

She hears herself speak
her vocal chords do not hum
instead she hears the words that she has written
as if her own poetry were a curse

She looks in the mirror
five minutes before she needs to leave for another day of something that someone somewhere deemed important
somewhere...

She turns around
back to the mirror
nose pressed
head down
ignoring her own cry for help

I am wiping my slate clean only to get it ***** again with memories of you

your loyalty fooled me
twice
*******.

I want to be anywhere but here
I want to scream at the top of my lungs
and say "I was here"
I am the anywhere but here girl
but the essence of me is here to stay
I will never back down and I will always stand strong
I will be resilient and quiet but bold
Because being stern is better than being a *****
and ***** I'm ******* done with this *******
so hold anything gross in your mouth
and throw it up in the bathroom
because we don't want to take it
I am going to hug myself
and love myself
and envy my own being
and when I do
I will be free