Lay me down under
that soft willow tree.
Don’t forget to make sure
its branches cover me.
I am tired of feeling
like the shadow,
not the tree;
The cup
that is empty;
the nothingness of me.
Tell me how do you sleep?
Knowing you’re nothing but atoms--
Splitting until
you’re a molecular pattern.
A few cells that made skin
and the skin’s now a body.
The shell of the corpse
I longed to be.
Cold skin
makes no motion.
At night,
I can see
a world where I'm gone,
and I'm no longer there.
But I know.
I'm still here.
And I know that you care.
I don’t know how to feel
like I'm taking up space.
Sometimes my mind leaves;
I’m in a new place.
A place where I go--
There’s an ocean of calm.
I hold meaning and purpose
inside of my palm.
I can tell you, it sucks
feeling outside of yourself;
Like your soul’s sprouted wings
and there’s nobody else
to save you from drowning
and make you breathe air.
But you are alive
and you’ll make it,
I swear.