The acrid smell of failure chases me
the sharp teeth of the thing nipping my heels

No matter how I run, it follows
the promise of exposure
a realization of something I already knew

The dance we do enables me to avoid it
day in and day out
floating just out of danger’s reach
a child in traffic, I’m never quite caught
But failure can’t be held off forever
Persistent, it pursues me
relentless
patiently waiting for me to falter
prolonging my agony until I succumb

Oh and when I do
the shame of being seen!

You promise it doesn’t matter
bathing me in sweet truths I know are lies
Sweet lies to which I cling
hoping desperately that
if I hold them tightly enough
engulf them with my being
shove them in the spaces inside me
into which they do not fit
that maybe then they will become
the sweet truths they are for you

Inches from me
you reach an arm around me
a gesture strained over the oceans separating our depths
I’m drowning in the doubts you can’t see

You reach to me on an island of isolation
but I’m surrounded by companions you can’t perceive
pressed on all sides

You’ve joined me in life
chosen me to walk beside
They’re your companions too now
but you look right through them
Ghosts you don’t believe in

The acrid stench of failure hangs from me
clouding the space between us
You breath deep
unwilling to sense the smell.