I don’t know how to swallow the ache
that pushes against my chest
like a sunset grazing the tip of a mountain
and that’s all I am
a mountain built on hopeless dreaming
piled high with all the light
that never washed white my rubble
and clouds that almost reached my base
but evaporated in the frigid air
a mist of unattainable longings
words don’t fit between these lips
without pulling poverty from my stomach
and shoving them into the cracks in my heart
stuffing me full with an even deeper empty
I’ve balled sleepless hours into stars
but even they can’t cast out the shadows
that drag their fingers across the expanse
of my being like wind through a field
mountains are supposed to be strong
but when earthquakes threaten to pull
the foundation from beneath it
a mountain can only stand tall
and tremble while it crumbles to dust