can i put a last breath into words
and can i just as gently release it without the strain on my neck
i didn't ask to fall apart so young
but i'll take what i can get
adorned with dirt and laced with regret
metallic taste that lingers from one word to the next
words that overstay and overstep
and get harder to understand with every second

when i'm dead they'll hold a funeral for a boy who never existed
for a "man" who they projected
onto the body they'll burn in lieu of proper payment
for a burial that would have finally let me rest