I have

Hoped
So much…
Lost
So much…
Dreamed
So much…
Loved
So much…

Stop—
Closing my ears
Only traps
The voices inside
My head,
And they ricochet violently,
Leaving tender bruises
On my memories.

But they won’t stop.

The echoes that haunt me
In my moments
Of wild abandon.

You are the veil
Between my self-control
And self-destruction.

Your frozen lips
Can attest to no love
And your stiff, tired
Eyes
Show the weight of your burden
From behind bloodied gauze.

But now that the veil
Has lifted,
Self-control
And self-destruction
Have merged,
And a new being
Has risen out of the frozen ashes
Stronger for its strange silence,
But destined to a life
Of echoes…

Born out of death
With a wrangled cry:
So much…