The Swallows' Nest

you’ve drifted too far for too long and now everything is too real and not real at all and the world is brittle and fragile - everything is empty and it echoes; you will not remember this later

something that is you but not quite is pressing against your ribcage, curled up beneath your skin; you are too small for your skin and too large for your bones; you do not fit yourself and your skin is shivering; there is something under there that wants to get out

you smile and it’s wry and aching and the cavern in your ribs yawns wider with every breath you take; the word is collapsing around you and you do not care; you are older than they know and this is only another repetition of an endless cycle (over and over and over and nothing is ever okay) so you smile and it aches