Still

Her pale skins scabs over and grows back translucent.
She’s disappearing but she glows like starlight,
It bursts from her pores, shining and silver and still.

Still, so still. She is unmoving.

Inside she’s screaming, clawing at the nerves of her brain
Spiders crawl across her arm,
But she’s a prisoner in her own skeleton.
She breaks her skin but she can’t break through.

Still, she cannot move.

Her body fades into transparency as the world looks on oblivious.
Look, class! Look how she rattles at the cage of her bones.
Look how they shake and lock her in tight.
Look how still she sits, so still.
Look how beautiful she’d be if she smiled.
Let’s stitch one across her face and tell her she’s fine.    

Still, I watch her from a distance.

I can’t look away but I can’t help. God knows I’ve tried.
I kiss her lips, hold her wrists, try to tell her body it’s still alive.
I try to tell her that life is more than the bones which imprison her.
I try to see her though she’s disappearing.
I try to hold her though my hand passes through her like smoke.

Still, I try.