my soul is vacant
a ghost town
slowly swallowed
by the desert
the green erased
by a sea of brown
nothing can live
in this salted
dreadfully still
expanse growing
to fill this form

i have not spoken
for an entire cycle
of petulant hands
racing around
the dusty clockface
my vocal chords
have frayed from
unanswered prayers
afraid to speak and
disturb death as he
snores on the concrete
right outside of my
blue apartment door

the soft crackle of
purple streaking to
briefly illuminate
the swirling sands
inside my hollow skull
and the gurgling of
my guts as i sit here
trying to figure out
how to stop the desert
from taking control
sneak past thanatos and
save myself from myself
without having to leave
this empty sanctuary