i wish i could
get a terrible sickness
just to purge it
to puke it out
to be rid the emptied house of my body
of cobwebs
that grow increasingly more numorus
it seems
with the passing days

i wish i could
recognize a face in a crowd
just to know it
among so many others
to wear that mask a moment
just to know it
because there is so much value
in being known

i wish i could
speak words unspoken
to turn heads
so that they may hear
what it is to be heard
so that they may listen to
the silence pacing priestly behind me