I Would Rather Be In Bed

i have always been built of bones, structured from the ground up

sutured together with arteries and veins, red and blue,

pulled together and weaved through

feeding me life of some kind or another as they ought to do

pull those bones tight together with muscles and tendons

wrapped around with ligaments, building a home inside this bag of skin

add the missing parts inside for without them i will still die

a liver, kidneys, lungs, stomach, aorta, intestines, a tongue, please, let me be heard

and tumble in the nutrients essential to keep you and i alive

last of all, inside these ribs, inside this skull, most essential of all

place a brain and beating heart

then seal it all up safe inside this flimsy skin and wait

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait

inside is just empty, dark, and blank

just a girl made up of skin and bones and emptiness inside her

waiting for a reason to take breath and feel a heart beat again

what good is a heart inside these ribs if it’s all broken and dirty

what good is a brain inside this skull if it’s all scarred and loopy

shut them down, turn them off, who needs them anymore

drowning in this bag of bones not quite good for anything

content to hide inside myself until i heard a shout

i reach ahead and there’s a hand to walk right there beside me

wondering now if the broken scattered pieces inside me can even work again

but i will try, i’ll try just once more if you give me just a minute

on that first breath inside these lungs

with that first beat of this weathered heart

i feel you there, the pieces you placed with care

i’d been chipped away, given away, worn away for years

you walked the paths of these hollowed bones

you let me see, i’d held the pieces the whole time…

i’d just been wandering around blind

i stitched myself together, in tangled, matted knots

you smoothed the edges, loosened the weights that held me down

you turned my sight from behind to ahead, you gave me solid ground

the journey to me was always mine to take, but you made me feel less lonely

these bones inside of me have never felt so sure, so strong

laced hand in hand, standing side by side, of yours