Everyone leaves

There are the birds flying south once winter dawns

There's the sky turning gray, come nightfall

There's the sun coming home to mountains in the West

And the light creeping away, away, away

There's the moon shying away behind roof shingles

There are the the stars smothered by city fog

And city lights that shine brighter

And then, there's you.

There's you with a ticket to life

There's you in a plane taking flight

There's you, just a speck in the sky

There was you. 

Then, you were gone. 

I have screaming thoughts to bleed

Heaving sobs to weep

You drove me to this need

You drove me to this need

your skin is see-through

rattle your bones lose

break all visceral connections

don't let them see what makes you

you are just a mere savage

with no bullets to spare

you've got bombs against you

in this cold twisted warfare

but the world is in its awakening

blood courses through your veins

you're still alive

you're breathing

you're alive

so run

run for your life

save your soul 

before they take it

before you morph 

into something more grotesque

than what we've all become

look at us 

look at the monsters we've become

look at the embers fading in our eyes

look at our broken bones

look at our broken homes

look into my eyes

be afraid 

be hypnotized

look at me

when  i scream your name

when i shake you awake

when i tell you

save your soul

for you are a lovely creature

and this lonely world

{how lonely it is, indeed}

is nothing

but grateful to have you

{merely breathing and alive

in all your loveliness

in all of your flaws

in all of your perfection}

in it

{in slumber}

Sleep knows me well

too well 

 it has roamed  the  dustiest corners

of my nervous system 

(and that's saying a lot, if i myself must say so)

it knows what i long for

what i longed for

it knows that my longing 

will be the death of me

it knows that it can kill me

in itself

but it has done something much worse

it has left me 

dying 

 in the most subtle way

this is the reason 

why i had no words left

when i woke up one day

at noon

conflicted

when i stayed under the covers

crumpled

when i never left my bed 

until the clock screamed

it was 5 pm. 

{at 2 am}

You must have said goodbye last week when you hung up

I must not have heard when I lingered

You are a few miles away and you're breathing

But you are merely a soul in my sorrow

Life must have carried on for you when you bade farewell

It must have stopped for me when I started waiting

I didn't know what I was waiting for and I was lonely

I thought the phone would ring again

You must have fled from home where reality is cruel

I must have stayed and stared at the ceiling in the dark

Sometimes, I cried in front of the bathroom mirror

I could not sleep

You must have ventured and met the greatest of the generation

I must have stayed under the covers all morning with the creeps under my bed

I turned to the door to leave, car keys in hand

But then I stopped. I didn't know how to drive

You must have missed them

I must have missed you

But I said I missed everybody to make you feel un-special

I guess it didn't work

You must have gone ahead and changed and forgotten

I must have forgotten too because I was left wondering

If you had said goodbye when you hung up last week

If I had not heard when I lingered

I was pretty sure you did not, for all I heard was silence

Silence means consent

You must have thought it meant farewell