Inside

So dark my eyes closed

Tight as a vice,

I can hear the muffled voices

of strangers I’ll never meet,

barely over the constant thump’s

always there, like a cadence

to some sort of imaginary army.

Always warm as if a blanket

were 98.6 degrees.

It’s stuffy, but it’s the most

comfortable place

ever. Never wanting to leave

I can feel the pressure

but I don’t know where to go.

I am forced into sterility

not knowing right from left.

Almost like a high schooler

unknowing of their future but

forced to pick their career.

I am forced into independency

(you’re on your own now, good luck),

but right now

I can bask in this simplicity

this woman’s arms.

Her gaze, loving yet daunting

filled with expectations, minor

now but growing just as I.

Too bad all I can do is cry.

Pain is meaningless to me,

hell I chutes and laddered my way out of darkness,

just minutes ago. It hurts

and I cry, but it means nothing.

Just like graduation,

I am exhausted but life has just begun.