Besides the screams and panic
Besides people becoming manic

Was the most haunting of sounds, ever to be heard
Surreal and hysterically absurd
As loved ones try to leave nothing unsaid
Was the continuously ringing cellphones of the dead

©Pauline Russell

The biting touch of the glass saunters
The curves of my skin.
A macabre melody surges
Through the hollows of my bones,
As my body is made a puppet,
Dancing to the discordant memories.

The webbing of the belt is lead
Against my gossamer chest.
Suspended in the air,
My limbs dangle like a sacrifice
To the shards below.

My vocal chords bleed
With each ghoulish plea from my lips
Until strong hands find my torso,
And I rise
Into the sickly light of day.

The cool air of the night is a pleasant foil
To the heat of the brackish liquid
Which caresses my cheeks.
My mangled laugh mars the stillness
As I remember the abyss
That welcomed me before
I nearly met the cold embrace
With such a finality.

Indescribable
is the woe I felt
at witnessing the
cruel aftermath
of heartbreak,
and struggling
to mend it.

People seemingly vanish all the time
But where are they if you're in the same place?
And here I sit still writing within mine
Amidst the candles glow I see your face

There is no curse that cannot be broken
Your aftermath leaves etchings on my heart
That equates to what our love has spoken
The emptiness that feels tears me apart

But here I remain, still, right where I sit
Along on my hands I count the great stars
As the path I must now take back is lit
Back, once more, I go to where this all starts

What has been sleeps peacefully in the past
Tenderly taken by a love at last

We all need acknowledgement
Consideration
We need air and food and sleep and
a sign that we are on someone's mind

You must fake care
We all must
Because a functioning relationship and a
a very low ******* tolerance cannot
Coexist

I have the neediest of needs
Unfulfilled
But your head could not be farther
up your own ******* and you can't see
I'd like them met by you
Oops

You trust so easily, Fragile Heart
When you know it's when you let them in
That they break you, and tear you apart.

You believe everything you want to hear
Fill yourself up with empty hope
That's recycled out as salty tears.

You tie yourself to the ground with scars
Like a balloon secured on a windy day
So they remind you of who you are.

"I'm not going to be staying here."
You wanted so bad to fly away
But Love, just know, you're not going anywhere.