these walls

i begin to feel comfort

within these walls, what once wounded me

now tickles at my skin.

i feed them secrets and they whisper

back in word, and hands,

reaching for my wind trodden hair.

marks upon the floor document

my obituary dance, pirouette in rhymes,

foreign to my body.

i begin to feel comfort within

these walls, what once was a shackle

now a key.

i paint every color in the climate

and they drink, and feed,

upon every sea and sun in my lair.

the clock in a dress of cancerous cells

hangs her tresses low, come midnight,

lady midnight.

i begin to feel comfort within

these walls, what once was day

now become night.

when no birds woo in tunes

and the sun, mother no more,

to famish-laden child no more.

when souls cease their run to lovers

and the earth, mother no more,

of her gut-sickening spin, a child no more,

i still feel comfort within

these walls.