The hallways are nearly empty,

the. Silent air cold like numbness, cracking pain that burns through your fingertips

dream of dust whispering along the edge under the long, dark, sleepless night

children's invisible voices calling through

your body with emptiness of sorrow.

You walk on worn out broken glass with sharp sliver piercings.

Behind the jagged door,

filling the room with longing into the

stillness of a heart shattering.

I watch the world spin rapidly inside the empty, bitter night,

listening to the screaming of his pain and weakness.

It kills me inside, devastated by your absences, hopeful to come home.

There is an ache that begins in the sound of tumbleweed blowing through the dry land.

It becomes the reflection of the darkness in my mind.

But one at a time it burns and burns.

Until there is only the blue smoke of dawn

and everyone is staring in the hallways even the parents.

The sound of taking the last breath as you fall from the cliff

into the bliss of water. Everyone except me.

Then a small white feathered dove flying across the room.

With wings so high that makes the ocean waves move.

Over this ordinary journey you stand as one,
                                                                                                                   the creaking of your own heart beating to the sound of waves crashing

along the shore.