i've got bandages over my rib cage
just beneath the skin
a thick, foreign material holding it all together
the silk ribbons i've tied over soft bone
in my attempt to compensate for the lack of
beauty in this frame  
this heart is so worn out i wonder
how it doesn't stop
even when it's breaking
it is beating
it's keeping rhythm
it's got the names of everyone i'm missing
tucked inside it's valves
i've got spirits of lost love haunting all it's halls
let my chest cavity be the church
the resting place in the body
i hear low voices singing sad hymns in unison
echoing against it's walls
bury me beneath the dust and rock in the mountains
so my God can carve me out of the marble
and i can start again
maybe i could make it through
without my bruised up skin