Half Life

I've been laying on marble stairs

the cool stone digging into my thighs

there's something about these airs

a dip behind this guilty guise

that haunts the very breath I breathe

that comes from across sprawling fields

to brush my cheek as a cool autumn breeze

and speaks of so much it never yields.

A thick fog so heavy over the moor

Choking on the still stone

That sits so quietly and demure

And swarms over all that is alone

It swaddles the baby's breath

in thick, cloudy pillows

Smothering until grey death

is not slowed by the billows

of wind that whip like invisible chains

wrapping round my fingers

and tugging on them like reins

Where the feeling lingers

The air kisses my dry lips

like a lonely lover looking for comfort

craving touches in small snips

and finding only more to suffer.

I can find no solace in the gentle press

that grace my rough cheeks so sweetly

I do not long for the soft caress

that it offers up so completely

Something else draws my heart

Pulls it toward the pockets of dark

Swaying like dancers and swift to dart

Invading every small starting spark.

I yearn for some uneasy peace

where part of me can never escape

the noises of the past never cease

And the shadows have mouths that gape.

There I will remain for the rest of my days

Mourning a life I can't have

Today I'll set it all ablaze

Tomorrow my world becomes half.