Etches in the ***** mirror, like ghost across the skies. draw hopeful words in steam from all my weakened sighs The morning brings bravery to meet the darkness with defiance but night fills my heart with longing and the slightest stroke of violence. The eyes in front of me, reflections of what I want to be aren't the eyes I actually see the purest form of what is me. Wrinkles pouring 'cross my face meet the stretch marks of wasted space. I check the clock. My bank account. The scale. Numerical definitions of what I have and what I don't. But I cannot check my happiness to see if I am overdue. No check on Friday will fill my heart... which has been overdrawn. How to measure the strength of soul, before the vault is all but gone... The etches in the mirror say "Tomorrow is another day." while advertisements of existence blur my vision. They tell me this is life. They tell me work your job. Pay your bills. Accept your place. But I have slowly learned that I will never agree. What will I do when words run out and I am left with an empty wallet, an empty mind, an empty heart? Let me body decay before my strength does. Let the words stay etched in my mind. Tomorrow is another day