occasionally
when i write
it is warnings
to a potential me
one unburdened by
the rusted chains
of depression

i send missives
into the chaos
as warnings to
these cast off
other versions
that read them in
fevered dreams
from which they wake
covered in sweat
panic racing as they
reach over to feel
the loved one
that never left them
in this alternate
reality from ours

they feel the echo
the throbbing of
anxieties unexperienced
little slivers sent
across the placid
surface of these
dreamlives lived in
a state of sublime
ignorant bliss

occasionally
i tell them of
this reality’s her
her boundless beauty
how she makes
our heart shiver with joy

or about the pain
of suffering all alone
in the enforced silence
of manic sorrows
that tear at tender flesh
leaving angry scars
to bloom across
puckered pink insignificance

thousands of warnings
to versions of me
unbroken and free
that never have to
know this instance
or its crushing emptiness