The staff is tired

Aching backs and cracking knees and rough hands

Eyes with bags, cracking nails

They serve—

to live

But grow ever weary

And the cycle repeats

The days grow longer,

Colder,

Someone has to grow bolder

Replaced

The cycle begins again

Fury—

Like a cotton-mouthed

Snake

Stepped on,

Territory invaded—

Mouth dry,

Jagged teeth and burning tongue—

Take a deep breath

Take a deep breath

Take a deep breath—

The pot is boiling over, the beginning

Of the end—

Rattle

Rattle

Lunge

They always said you were an explosion waiting to happen.

A short piece of prose loosely inspired by my Shakespeare class. A bit of interesting info: you might notice the difference in the usage of "you" and "thou" between the two characters. This is because "thou" was disrespectful to use in certain social settings where formal speech (i.e. you) would be expected. Thus, here you see one creature showing respect in awe, and the other showing none in bitterness.

To make me you must take me,

Unmake me.

And I shall unmake you to make you,

Mine to form. But will you have me?

Without a care.

But a care I wish.

What am I?

Lovely.

But so art thou, what am I?

If I am beauty, you art Art.

How knows?

I haveth eyes. Is beauty all the praise you know?

Undoubtedly.

Then walk with me, let us know what we do not know.

I cannot walk, weak am I from the cage.

Then I shall carry, and we shall talk, and only when you find me worthy,

Shall I unmake thee.

It could be a while.

It could be forever, but patience I have, and Art lasts in mine eyes an eternity.

My face is misshapen,

Sunkissed burns

Trail my cheek,

My neck,

The tip of my

Nose.

I am

Wrong

Twisted

Distorted.

But what lies underneath the drying cracks is

new

And I can feel

The beat

Of music,

Through the soles of my aching feet.

What a curious feeling

To want to dance on broken ankles.

I cannot eat in front of my roommate.

There’s too much noise to be made,

Too much sound.

I’m too big for this skin and all a part of me wants to do is

Shr

I

N

K.

So I sneak,

Like a thief

In the night.

My sisters visited,

Tank tops,

Mid drifts,

Tight jeans.

I swallowed every painful thing,

The food looked delicious,

It tasted like ash.

I thought I was getting better,

But a part of me will

Never

Stop

Wanting

To

Be

smaller.

“Have you noticed my obsession with the word,

‘Stars’?

It’s because

My

freckles

Are constellations.

My

stretch marks

Are permanent comets.

And oh god,

My friend,

What eyes I have.

A Golden

Brown glow

In the sun.

I am

A Star,

Stuck to the ground,

Waiting for the day

that gravity

Drops me

Into the abyss

To brighten its darkness.”

-StarsBurn09

It builds in the throat,

Clawing its way upward,

Sinking nails into sensitive tissue.

You choke on your own spit trying to Breathe in

Breathe out

It spills out of your mouth,

Puffs of trembling air,

Tiny gasps of desperation.

Breathe in

Breathe out

It settles in the stomach,

Dead weight,

Lead weight.

It just hurts

It grips the heart,

Brightens the face.

Your own body turns against you

Breathe in

Breathe out

I had a good life.

There's no doubt about the life I had, though there's some regrets, some things I'd like to change, it was still a good one.

I'm not entirely sad that my end has come, a little scared,

But,

You know,

That's normal.

To whoever finds this I'd like you to never burn or destroy it, at least let me live on in something, even if it is some ripped up paper.

Isn't it everyone's dream to leave a little bit of themselves upon the living?

I lied before, you know, when I said I was only a little scared.

I'm terrified as my time drags nearer. I find that even in the end we struggle to stay alive.

And I guess I'm not as embarrassed to say it now that my time has come,

I'm afraid to die.

I don't want to die.