Don't Look Down

I should be working hard

But I’m hardly working.

I’m tired, and I should be sleeping

But the caffeine went to my head

And now I’m stuck.

Too awake. Too asleep.

Unproductive.

 

You tell me

‘Don’t look down’

But I do anyway

And see the mess that spreads

From my toes to the door.

 

I feel the panic

Like a distant storm.

The thunder rumbling in

Some foreign sky.

Coming nearer,

But slowly.

 

I press my fingers to

My head and try not to think

(I should be working)

 

But it’s useless telling

My thoughts to stop being ‘thinked’

So I let them wash over me.

 

They drown me,

And in the morning I wake

On a shore

Electrified with lightning.

 

Every pleading regret

Carved into my

Bone-dry tongue,

I cry.

Because really…

I just want it to end.

Reviews

[GTVile]

Ouch, I felt that one in MY soul. The voicing of the narrator comes our clear and piercingly. Excellent job.

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

Powerful and moving