Dear Death, - Vesuvius

Dear death

How have you been?

It’s been awhile since I’ve felt your warmth envelope my skin

Sometimes I hear your whisper echo between my sheets

Or let your poems whisk me off to sleep

Do you miss me?

The scent of smoke drifting from my clothes

Like a perfume that you loathe

But cherish when you’re alone

And I can’t say the same

Your grasp once swallowed me whole but I’m okay

Now I’m okay

Dear death

I hear your knuckles graze my door

The winter months have reached their crux

I’m sure you long for warmth

But the corners of my conscious suffer to let me know

That if you lay a minute in my bed it’ll be so hard to see you go

Did you love me?

I swear I never meant to do you wrong

You saw right through me all along

And even if your body felt like home

And your essence is in all I am and all I know

Maybe I’m just better off alone

And how am I supposed to sleep at night?

Knowing that your ghost is waiting for me on the other side?

And I will keep my head above the surface until your rivers run dry

These brittle bones harness the strength to fight

You may consume every piece of me

Just leave me be

And when you turn your back on me

And tell me I’ll die alone

I feel everything you’ve taken

In the marrow of my bones

What if I never loved you?

What was I to say

If you sacrifice what is most dear to me

As a plea for me to stay?

And I’m sorry that it must end this way

But now I’m okay