Another Poetry Book

Don't Look

   Please

Please don't look at this mess

   With smudges of violet

Under deadened eyes

   With an empty smile

And cold hands

That shake with anxiety

   With thin limbs that bruise

From even a light blow

Lack of rest and water

And food, I suppose

   With a feverish form

Still wrapped in layers

Because it's so so cold

   With faint scars on pale

Skin that can only be seen

If you know where to look

   Who lives in a ghost-like

State of fading and drifting

   Who flinches and jumps at

Sudden voices and sounds

   Who tenses at the sound

Of footfalls and raised voices,

Frozen in place, trying to breathe

   Who can't seem to relax

And carries so much tension

Wound tight into sore muscles

   Who has given up so much

Just to watch it swirl away

Like smoke in the wind.

   Please

Don't look at me