Who am I if I stop running?
In this endless race,
Endless twists and turns,
This labyrinth with no clear escape.

They say the cheese waits for the clever,
for the fast, obedient, and blind.
But every trail,
There's nothing to find.

Ever so often,
The walls of the labyrinth close in.
Soft enough to muffle my screams,
Hard enough to bruise the parts of me,
That still have belief.

They mark my stumbles,
Analyze my pace,
Their eyes flicker, cold.
Hands leaving nothing but a trace.

Each maze-turn reeks of someone else's fear.
As if their ghost still lingers here.
Haunting.
The ground remembers each fall,
Each and every slammed-into wall.

We were promised purpose.
It was framed as choice.
But not once did I hear my voice.
Only the loud ringing of bells, bright lights,
Rewards, and shame.
Yet I still carry all the blame.

But something stirs beneath the ache.
A whisper no test can replicate.
What if i pause, mid-turn, mid-race?
And let stillness flood this frantic place?

when people see a person hurting
they seldom try to ease their pain
they make jeering remarks
and take their own digs and hits
for no one notices
if a bleeding person coughs up blood
those silent souls, drift alone in the dark.

if only hearts could learn to mend,
hold the broken, be the friend.

Tight
Suffocating
The itch
Oh, I was in a stitch.
The prickly shroud, a heavy cloud
My silent scream within, a twisted din
It pressed close, a cruel design
Those barbs and wires, I let out a hushed whine
The fabric held like a stubborn stain
No matter how much I writhe and tear, seek release
It never ceased, my inner pain.

It was torment
This endless plight
To feel just so much, yet lose the light.
Though in shade, a heart caught ablaze
Longing desperately for comfort,
Unafraid.

it keeps coming
the fights, the arguments
u scream the worst things one could hear
u make my insides twist and gnaw at themselves
u make my insides want to eat me whole
u make me feel that pathetic
and then
u come to my room at night
and try to make everything alright

fleeting.
sailing away into the sunset
soaring through crimson skies
whispered secrets in the stillness
solicitous beams of sunlight shimmering on a surface
a gentle echo of laughter in a quiet room
a delicate hand resting on your own
a shared glance in a crowded room
a fragile smile
all fleeting.

as the morning light dissipates
notice the silence.
the hollowness when they are gone
the absence of color, of warmth

the fleeting inevitably fades
a quiet echo of what was
and the cold certainty of what is

perhaps, a glimpse
into the precarious nature of such fragile affections