arms wrapped tight

      around myself

feeling my heartbeat

      like a separate identity

just keep this soul inside

      (don't let it go yet)

life is short

      but not this short

i want to breathe

      again tomorrow

It was the summer of the 
great sadness

 it came upon me, inside me, beside me
unexpectedly
an ache settling
in the hollow place where
my ribs meet beneath my heart
the sharp edges, sometimes muffled
by a sort of emotional blanket,
only to burst through
ah, sweeping pain 
radiating upward, downward
to my eyes, to my pubic bone
the hurt

"go away" i said, "let me go away" i said 
but
the great sadness never listened
it just hugged me close
a dismal friend;
in moments, it would fade behind
a simple pleasure, 
and I would forget to remember
but with the gentle nudge 
of a phrase, an object, a scent, a sound
it was there, 
again,
always,

unsuffocated