Utter Exhaustion

Have you ever been so tired

That your bones all creak

Like a tree's branches in a gale,

Or gate hinges in the summertime?

Have you ever been so tired

That the dust whipping around the skies

Seems to have settled in your joints

And caked your eyes with choking silence?

Have you ever been so tired 

That the very weight of the world

Becomes a burden too heavy to carry

And slips from your weary shoulders?

Have you ever been so tired

That the sunlight seems to drink

The energy from your skin,

Sip it from your thudding veins?

Have you ever been so tired 

That your brain sinks into mush,

Refusing to think another thought

Or move another twitching muscle?

For those with a louder voice

Inside than out,

That gut-wrenching exhaustion

Is a part of our beings,

A reminder of all this life

Could drown us within our sleep.

That exhaustion makes us old

And wiser beyond our years,

Yet no one believes us when

We speak the truth,

For we are too young to understand

The workings of the heart and mind.

That is how tired we are.