What a Way to Fail

The scene says you are on a boat,

a deeper ocean than most.

Not a soul around to help you oar,

unless I speak only of yours.

But it doesn't matter how I cry,

I can't wash you from my sight.

So maybe drowning in your sea

has a little bit of what I need.

This is what I see at night,

when I cannot use my eyes.

I'm begging for the sleep to come,

and hold me down until it's done.

It's the other way to take my time,

if it insists it spares my life.

Though I pretend the bed is the grave,

and hope it takes me anyway.

I was running on machinery,

I was inventing ships and batteries,

but your soul escaped, your body bent.

I tried to chase, but down I went.

The sun sinking behind the curve,

lit the sky up like a nerve.

The flames chased me back to the shale,

my body burned, my heart impaled.

My body burned, my body burned.

But what a way to fail.

I don't have breath enough say,

so no one leaves or goes away.

They try to mold my face to smile.

They dress me up just like a child.

It's far time I get over it,

but I don't think I can do this.

I pretend the bed is the grave,

and hope it takes me anyway.

I was running on machinery,

inventing ships and batteries,

but your soul escaped, your body bent.

I tried to chase, but down I went.

The sun sinking behind the curve,

lit the sky up like a nerve.

The flames chased me back to the shale,

my body burned, my heart impaled.

My body burned, my body burned...

One night, when I was sleeping,

I ran as fast as my heart beating.

The sky broke out into a flame,

and I reached up fast to grab your hands.

But I fell so hard back to the ground,

I left a hole as big as doubt.

Your face was scared and full of blame...

I was running on machinery,

inventing ships and batteries,

but your soul escaped, your body bent.

I tried to chase, but down I went.

The sun sinking behind the curve,

lit the sky up like a nerve.

The flames chased me back to the shale,

my body burned, my heart impaled.

My body burned, my body burned.

But what a way to fail.

©2015 Megan Slankard