it's another night 

and you wonder if it ever goes away 

if the knots in your throat ever fade 

into symphonies 

symphonies that flow and fold 

symphonies you could never sing 

symphonies that died on your doorstep 

if i could ever be something 

i'd be anything but the chorus 

(scars align with their riffs) 

moments you swallow whole 

i sleep by the graves of the people i could never love grief is a cycle and we've all been here before 

ear cartilage collapses 

(i've heard louder screams) 

her pearls look like stepping stones 

and my feet need an anchor 

the whispers echo in an endless stream 

tenth-grade biology 

the placenta separates the fetus from the mother (so do bad fathers and crumbling governments) 

you tell her that you're losing footing 

she switches on another light bulb 

and they all know 

(they always did) 

fire drips from the sky 

till charred split ends sell for fifty 

and the only relief is dips in serotonin 

we were born on granite 

our backs can't bend on feathers 

your back is moulded out of gold 

my footprints might break your spine 

leave 

the night will repeat