I feel something inside me begin to crumble

Having all these footprints on my back

And cruel mocking in my head, They.

They keep asking me not to try,

These fragile strings and broken memories all inside me—

Empty faces and failed romances all about me—

They make me feel as though I may

Fall to pieces on the ground

They are full of pain, and unseen violence,

Slowly ripping away at some vital part of myself.

I just want to forget,

I wish I could run and

Find some haven in hills and simple songs

I want to surround myself with streaming

Color and hope that tomorrow is

Brighter, but

They keep clouding up my sky.

I feel them behind my eyes

Making me heavy and wherever I walk,

I see the ground cracking.

PLEASE!

I am an empty womb and I have never felt

Hollow like this before, I am the sun that keeps

Shining and I just wish I

Wouldn't.

I would cry—

I would take this sorrow and unwrap it

Discover it and understand it,

Instead becoming undone with it

I am a dream dying, a mouth gone dry, and

I don't have strength left now to cry.

They are worthless

And dumb, they are blind and deaf

And weak.

They don't even know me!

Rage takes up guard beside me, holding his head

High, his mouth set in a tight line

He glances my pathetic figure

and his eyes are sad and cold and full of understanding,

I make love to him,

Feeling his ecstasy and becoming alive with it,

He gathers my sadness

And sets it aflame.

Please…

I feel broken but more weary, as though I've been shattered

And repaired, filled with some obscene

And mindless hope only to be

Carelessly broken again, they.

They have clumsy hands and forgetful hearts.

I thought to make them mine, to bend them and move them

And redefine my world with them,

They just

Don't

Understand.

They never wanted this.

My thin wrists and soft skin, awkward knees and naïve

Mouth, they didn't crave my sadness and sensitivity

The words that seem to swim and breathe and make shapes inside me,

My poetry or heart

My song or smile, and

I wish I could find them on one of my better days

Without passion dripping from my dress,

Then maybe

They could handle this.

Fuck you.

Pride grabs me and shakes me,

Pity turns his back

To Pride's abuse

And I grow full of Vanity,

Filling my fists with Denial

Fighting for Valor,

For honor and

Self-worth.

This will never be the end, they.

They think they can spread silent wings and take flight alone,

They believe they are the only things worth

Protecting,

They will keep wearing masks and asking selfish things

Of innocent people, and so I will begin

This will be the start, of I.

I am.

I am strong.

I am blood and sweat and the rain on your brow,

I am salvation and sin, compassion and generosity,

And I will never forget, this is our fight

And I will fight forever—

We deserve gold skies and lime green grass, friends

And lovers and people to dance with, all of us

With gossamer wings, weaving dreams and eating stars.

I believe this,

It is my forever and my ideal

It is my dream and my understanding—

They are dust, and they will be

Swept away.

Soon.