i will not wake

I will not wake

even if your screams

bleed into my dreams

even if my scars embolden

like newspaper headlines.

They'll be shut for so long

you'll forget I ever had them.

I am broken porcelain

on a black beach

do not try to patch me up

with duct tape and glue

Let me lie low in this darkness

At least, the monsters

here are ugly

but they know how to love.