Lay

It's always worse when you first leave--
Your scent, memories of flesh
On me like blankets
Enveloping me in the sadness of your absence.

Face aches from contortion,
More smiles than the weeks before.
I want to creep my head in the nape of your neck,
Curled up like a small child in
The arms of their protector.
Arms wrapped around stomachs
Flesh bare, legs entwined--
Feeling every twitch and stir.

Quaked

Window open.
Shadows creep across the pale light as
sounds from outside
persuade their way in, seducing
the thin white plastic sheets that normally shield.

Can't sleep.
Mind races,
churns stomach,
twitching.
Writhing like a worm under a
magnifying glass penetrated by the sun's
unforgiving rays.

They don't stop, the legs.
The worst.
Feet kick at
demons who aren't there.
The bed feels like water--
I'm drowning,
floating,
swimming--
an endless abyss.