cradled in the womb of death
that warm, dark emptiness
black velvet

speckled light behind closed eyes
a deep, unfeeling sleep
that stretches on eternally
the safest place to swallow me
where nothing has to matter

and I will not try, and I will not be
and when I breathe,
my breath will be absorbed
in black velvet

blanketing me in silence
hushing and smothering festering red
flares of fearful violence

the heartbeat of the void
pounding in my ears
washes me away like ocean waves
and i am safe
in black velvet