"I Still Breathe"

In the silence of night
Where cries were unheard
and tears were hidden
On a pillow that never dried
I prayed
I prayed in earnest
for God to cease
My very breath
with next morning’s dawn

An obligatory smile
Adorning an exhausted face
My thoughts carried
A dark and heavy load
of unrelenting pain
emotions sliced
and bottled up tightly inside
A suffocating prison
unable to break free

Endless attempts
Trying to find
Joy within the walls
That held me in
In the vine of desire
I fell with each climb
Branches reaching only
So far

The world clothed in ignorance
and apathy
Placed on a scale of
Zero to one
In the callous minds
Comparing a dagger
Through my brain
To the ache instilled
With fierce abhorrence
by the uncaring

Necessitating understanding
And compassion
Felt in the reach of another’s hand
I didn’t want to die
I needed to be surrounded
with tender armor

The greatest gift
through an unanswered prayer
God’s touch evoking life

as I still breathe