it all starts to blur together and every day fades further from the horizon. every word uttered, every smile grinned, every surface touched falls short from the whole when not lead back to you. I haven't recognized my name since it was last spoken from your mouth. I haven't let my hands float above the sunroof as I've traveled down each lonely highway, stretching farther away from you. I haven't exhaled all the air in my lungs or been able to relax all the tension in my muscles from their constant preparation for the crash- waiting on standby only makes the blow more painful. I haven't been able to swim in the ocean without feeling your love. you're like a tide, pulling me back and shooting me out again, crashing over my body with immense pressure, yet so soothing- coating every cell on my body with liquid- you pour over me and drown me whole. I haven't been able to sleep the same. Every time they ask me how I'm doing or if I still love you, I mutter about the "not enoughness" and the lack of, while staring at my hands, trying to retrace the last time i ate a full meal or fell asleep for more than three hours. The one thing I run back to kills me like a bullet, firing all the way through: The smoke in my lungs mimics the breathlessness I felt when you choked my throat It's turning me to ashes, but I choose to not get better. There's some correlation between the way your existence has haunted me like a ghost, Sticking to my skin like all this inhaled smoke, Demanding for the light to be left on in case you wander from the unknown- Back to your garden, your chokehold, your throne.