(written 2/18/2015)

I have a fire like warm nights burning just below my slow beating heart.

The air in my room withers thin like cherry stems.

My lips part and beg for breath, but all I taste is blood and rain.

A star twitches in the sky; its light flickering on and off.

She watches over me like the angel floating in the corner.

Red roses on my eyelids from exhaustion and I sleep too long.

Tears form and my brown eyes turn to a creamy sad puddle.

Breathing. It doesn’t come.

Left lung. Right lung. Both lungs.

Empty and shriveled like peach pits.

Thoughts like raindrops roll like mudslides through the veins in my forehead.

To sit still and not think for just a moment would be melodic.

Chest pain like thunder and darkness crushes my bones like leaves under shoes; fragile. They had no chance.

Sleeping like a teenager high on painkillers and sadness is solace.

Teeth rest together all out of place; they belong.

Shoulders carve arcs in the sheets when I roll over to press my tired face to the wall.

Eyes ache for no more light.

Mind aches for much more sleep.

Heart prays for less missing you.

Hands shake in their loneliness and desire a match.

Spine cries out for a life without pain.

Lips hungry for more painkillers and to taste the mouth that betrayed my love.