Words unformed stuck in her throat
Dry as a first communion host
She tried to push them past her lips
They slid back down
In a fevered putrid torrent

All the things she could not say
Trapped inside her mottled mouth
Beneath her swelling tongue
An angry cloud of hornets
Again again again they stung

All the words unspoken
An abscess ripe with pus
Throbbing in her throat
Every breath a battle
An emotional death rattle.