Old lace and dried flower petals
***** pastels, no longer new
An aged softness
Like a long used blanket -
Worn and familiar

The shade of a fern,
Against the cream of a mushroom
Deep within an ancient forest
Silk flowers on a window sill -
Fading in the sun

Pale pink of a tiny rose
Delicate as sprigs of baby's breath
The smell of mint and sage
And the patina of an age

There are dark things here
That fear the kiss of Iron
The feel of steel
It is not shade, no
Nor is it dragon born
There are darker things indeed

Leave the milk out on
The back porch
Give no thanks to those
Who offer favors
Once patterns are made
You must keep to them
Or **** the consequences

There is a pale white horse
Standing by the waters
Do not touch it or ride it
There is a hare that stares
Too long into your eyes
This is not a fight
You can win

Warning, warning...
It starts like a whisper -
Dry leaves stirring in the breeze
A voice of salt and sand,
Dry as desert dust
Full of fear
Heavy with foreboding

Warning, warning...
It stirs - swirls - builds
A slow wail of dying children,
Of storms sweeping
Foundations creaking, crumbling in the wind
A fate most ill

Warning, warning...
Your birth was a birth watched by crows
Omen-seekers staring with blind eyes
A night most foul
We can not separate ourselves
From the fate we were born with
These sirens swell and wail

Stuck between a rock and a hard place
Charybdis and Scylla
Powerful, sweeping
Ever fighting for control
A safe path to travel,
Wishing for calm seas and good wind

Between the devil and the deep blue sea
But albatrosses fall,
Hung around wretched necks
Seas gone sour, wind gone still
Anchor no ship can shake
There are omens best left unseen
So many impossible things

Between the hammer and the anvil
A constant pounding into shape
Icarus falling with melting wings,
Sisyphus and his boulder - always going up hill
Prometheus and his eagles
Like a dog on a stake,
We can't escape our fates

This is exhausting
Its only May and I have
Had enough
I forget how it feels
To not be tense
There is always this
Heaviness pressing down
On my chest

I resent them
And does that make me
A terrible person
For wanting them gone?
For wanting to breathe
Freely again?
It feels like I am

Another night spent
Hyperventilating in the bathroom
Shower on so no one
Hears me cry
I just want scream,
Run away
But where will I go?
What would it change?

I'm so tired
Of feeling trapped
In my own home
I've never gotten used
To these invaders
Blood though they may be

I had a job for the first time
It's gone now
This situation is so precarious
And feels like I
Won't survive having
It crash down