Lonely nights with nicotine and cold beds.

Empty promises weigh heavily on my mind

as the paint that splatters effortlessly from

the brush in my hand creates

       Emotion.

The words that are trapped on the tip of my tongue

and the cries that are trapped in the back of my throat

are released in shades of  

  Crimson

And violet

      And cobalt

And warm orange

They mingle until my thoughts escape me for a moment

and all I can see on the canvas before me is my silence.

The silence that I keep to hold on to those around me

that I feel slipping from my grasp

inch

       by

inch.

The silence that I carry underneath my eyes and on my wrists

that spell out the words that have waited to be heard.