This sickness sits like a hole
in my stomach
and I can feel it spread like wildfire
throughout my body.
From my shaking hands to the
vice around my lungs
preventing a steady breath,
it makes itself known and I can
focus on nothing else.
I cannot tell what has worn me down more;
the hand-over-the-mouth sobbing
so no one will hear,
or how every time I repeat "you will get through this",
I believe it less and less.

- R.H.

My mother always used to tell me
that I could read anyone.
"Give them an hour with you", she'd laugh,
"and you'd just know."
Then I met you
and it seems that your book is
written a language that I just don't understand.
This illiteracy is driving me mad
and I know I would spend years just to
decipher one page.

- R. H.