Over and over again
A refrain, a refrain
Still we are again
Here once more
Here once more with locked doors
And lights turned down
Pen stained knuckles
And too white paper
Fifteen hours, not enough rest
Wake up at 6am and go to bed at 12am
Here we go again
Here we go my friend
Another year

Keep me down
And keep me sane
Say I'll never rise again
I keep coming like the tide
Like the embers
I rise and rise

They lay in the shade together
Side by side
Small bodies nestled where the bamboo grows wide
"Do you ever wonder," the leader inquires.
"What it would be like to grow?"
The three share glances,
each one wondering.
"I've had this body for three hundred years."
The oldest replies, "It's a blessing and a curse."
The youngest tilts her feathered head,
glowing like a jewel.
"My ancestors sunk ships - I'm named after them.
Sometimes I wonder what they'd think of me."
The leader rubs her freckled face and sighs.
"All that I am is because of this body. I wonder..."
The oldest was an assassin, the youngest a ship-sinker,
They all followed the leader.
A vampire, a seamonster and a mob boss all sat in the shadows,
under a tree
And they wonder
What growing might be like.

Tired eyes and tired lies
Gold leaf promises
Holding on for another day
Another moment
Another second
Life gets narrow and the shadows grow old

"I exist." He tells the mountains,
and the mountains tell him nothing.

"I'm alive." He tells the seas,
but the seas are silent.

"I am here." He tells the air,
but the air does not hear.

"I matter." He tells himself,
yet, he does not know.

I exist.
You repeat it ten times a day
I exist.
Whisper it to your self
On rainy days and quiet nights.
I exist.
You say as you scroll through another's life
I am here. I exist.
A quiet affirmation.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
I exist.
It is enough.

Teeth click with a snap, fangs bared in another threat.
Fur up, hackles raised.
She's growling at ghosts now, mountain song and cracking boulders.
Hisses slice the silence up, sharped knife against paper thin.
Those eyes are wide, ruby death staring into the abyss.
Pupils so wide they hide the red, now they're sinking into slits.
That red glows, that red speaks deep.
The things that she's seen. The things that she's seen.
Lips pulled back, ears battened down.
Shoulders hunched, head lowered.
Lethal crown ready as the flowers fall one by one.
She is a monster.
She is a god.
And what are Gods if not monsters?
Those black hooves strike the ground, one single drumbeat.
Death dealers.
Scars bristle under shining fur.
Nightmare no longer monochrome.
Those teeth snap again, sharp click.
Angry sound.
Bitter beast.
Lost potential.
Lost past.
Lost soul.
She is the remainder.
The One That Endures.
The One Who Stands Still.
Remember who she once was.
She is the devourer.
She is the creator.
The waning light and the shock of lighting.
Remember what she is now.
Outsider.
Shell.
Imperfect space.
Mother.
Wanderer.
The Lost One.
The Broken Thing.
She breaks, she mends.
Trys to get better then slips again.
You can't escape the red.
Can't leave the dead.
She sees all their skeletons.
Their blood is on her hands.
In her heart.
Their voices sound in her head.
Screaming their damnation.
Screaming their pleas.
She is a nobody
And you just made a mistake