there’s a rhythmic beating in my heart
it speaks your name in the pulse of my veins
and i remember again and again
your laugh, your smile, and you.
i lie awake late at night with my heart wide open
my soul is a battlefield
and you’re the only white flag i’ve ever known
but last i checked, you’re far far away
so i’m left to dig another grave on this territory
an epitaph that reads shorter than it should
because i’m short on words today
short on breath and short on
laughter
but really i’m just short on you.
and in my head i picture us laughing but lately
the picture’s so distorted, like a grainy old
black and white film, and i keep thinking
i’ll see Mr. Chaplin running past in the backrgound
but that would be too funny for this film.
and there are boulders tied to my ankles, rocks in my stomach
because lately all i do is shore up thoughts
and there’s only so much thinking that this mind can do
before the dam begins to break
and i become endlessly heavy.
and the only things that can help me stand are
your laugh, your smile, and you.
skipping through the halls like children on the way to recess
because our footfalls ring too heavy in these times
and all we want is to be free.