The way they go down in slumber, tumbling until their stomachs hurt,

The way they steal glances, tight-lipped smiles, never fully reveal

the truth upon those eyes, darkened with age, hiding the pain,

of loves lost to time, never truly forgetting, always denial,

of the raw gap between heart and skin, scathing the surface

until it bursts in floods of salty water, gasping for breath

in a dark corner of a room

where no one else can see

the turmoil still boiling

beneath.

 

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