The loss of you
Is a grain of sharp sand
Embedded in my heart
It hurts with every move
Every tortured breath
But I know
That if I can only hold up
Long enough
The time
And the pain
And the living
That flows over it
Will form a thin,
Smooth, gleaming layer
Around this tiny fragment
And then
It will not hurt
Quite so much.

More time
More friends
More living  and
Less thinking  
Will add coat
After coat
After coat,
And one day
Some day
It will form
Into a pearl.

And then
I'll hardly feel it at all!

That little
Sharp...
... grain of sand.

The sun is up
And hope returns
Anew
Preparing
For another
Tomorrow...

I fell asleep praying
Praying
For exile
From bedlam
Forever

But life
Is cruel
Prayers but guttural  
Chantings
Of quiet
Desperation

Nightmares
Shatter
My nightly vigils
Sleep
A blood curdling respite
From sun-baked
Depression
Why do I endure this
Charade
This caricature
Of ritualistic
Living

Why must anything matter
Anymore
This lonely
Battle
This battle of
Loneliness
I am
But "an army of one"
Decimated

Atrocities establish
Beachheads
Crowding out
Feeble counterattacks
Demanding of meager
Resources
From a soul so utterly
Bankrupt

And yet I wake
And yet I eat
And yet I sleep
And yet I hope
For another
Tomorrow?