you continue to look through old poetry
instant nostalgia consumes you
what do you feel? 
is it how you felt while writing it
or is it how you feel reading it now
watching ages pass as an innocent bystander
waiting
for the moment to come for you to have a chance to speak up
shout into the void
do you dare enter it?
or leave it untouched?
wallflowers are funny
empathy is magical
comprehensible things aren't really comprehensible, are they?
what you think is what you imagine
thinking in the past will only make you yearn for that sweet kiss, that soft touch
everything is all over the place
sprawled out across the floor
do you want to clean it up, or continue to let it pile?
you're hoarding
burn it
burn it all
watch the embers dance in the air
& the flames wave with the draft
& the smoke consume the sky
cough. choke. cry. suffocate.
become reborn.
you're a Phoenix & your life is up.
begin again. sprout from the ashes & start anew.