::: Atrophy :::

they say
muscles atrophy
if they are not used
rotting beneath the skin
is the same true
about the soul?
if we do not use it
will it rot away within our body
until nothing is left
but a tiny bit of
slimy residue

callous apathy
scarring over
the features of kindness
until they are destroyed
humanity is become
disfigured and ugly
dying from the inside out
but not doing something
because it is
somebody else's problem

hope jades us
into believing in a better future
which will never arrive
because we've been bribed to inaction
by this belief
and so it stays a dream
instead of becoming
all hope's turned against us
dying
from the inside out
sucking on the bones
of sympathy

::: Stillborn :::

stillborn
the metamorphosis failed
butterfly died wingless in the cocoon

only a glimpse of freedom
before it was stolen
by a foolish choice to grow up

nothing is sacrificed
in the name of a better future
and everything is lost in that fate

there is no future
mired in the shame of the fallen past
shadowed by a thousand fingers

and a mirror
reflects the aborted colours
like an accusation

::: A Poem Fell Out :::

not with all the unfinished poems in the world
could I begin to express my confusion
or the complexity of this emotion
I don't even know what I feel for you anymore
I'm not sure I remember how to feel

the eyes keep changing as the mask stays the same
letters are painted along the teeth
they collate onto the tongue to make words
that stumble out into conversations
and the colours switch

obviously we need more dignity
if this is making sense between us once again
I can't read a book that's spread across the floor
but that is all you are
my brushes are shaking in my hands

colouring your cheeks with lies
it's all easy enough since you don't know what I say
I'm just counting grains of stars
shall we fall into another state of viewing
before our eyes try to open and stain

what I really want is something else to say
but the thing I seem to have is someone else to be
why isn't it the same?
faces and words and disguises and time
it's empty in between these lips