She was night-time and I loved the darkness

The longest death I've ever felt is staying alive

“I dream every night
about a grave I have
never seen, a body
I don’t believe is real.”

My friends have cross tattoos
Verses on wrists and calves,
Hands pierced with nails-
Symbols of a love craved.
But never found; not where
It was promised. Some doors
Don't open, despite the desperate knock.
So we draw the door on our skin.
We're getting closer now,
My friends and I, closer to a life
Without end, to love without condition.
This love we were on our skin

Are we still here
Are we still loving.
Were we as lost as they said?

I have not experienced a natural disaster but I've held one within me

Across state lines
And fate's design
You'd read between my lines,
You'd seen truths I had tried
To deny
You had read poems
That were tucked
Neatly under my sheets,
Words never meant
To read
You saw inside of me

Like pressing a flower between paper sheets the morning weighs heavy on me