tearing at my flesh

clawing out my eyes.

trying to rid of the monster

you see inside me.

What am I?

I should be nothing to you.
A breeze on your neck.
A pleasing glance
or stare.

I’d hope.

Though nothing more and nothing less.
I am a bag of dirt.

Wash and rid of me
from your warm hands.

While you still can.

One by one they glide down.
Leaf after leaf after leaf.
and humbly sit themselves down on the roots of the tree
almost naked and bare.

Early for the Fall.

Already trembling in the ghostly wind.

Waiting to fall.

Parading in circles around

and around my head.

Sprinting in circles

on and around

and around

my heart.

Let me sink into the ground with you
I wanna feel your bones on mine.
Let me keep you here until nightfall.

And confess you’re all I ever wanted.

Yet I’m sinking into the ground without you
because you’re all I can’t have.

And I swear it’s you
in every pair of eyes I see

every laugh I hear

every touch I feel

every sideways glance

I’m looking for your
face in the crowd.

Racing to one side,
trudging to the other.
Back and forth

back

a n d

forth.

Am I ever going to catch my breath.
Am I ever going to win.