Pretending I’m alive
For the sake
Of appearing
Normal
Is my only chance
At fighting
This existence
Deemed unfit

By aches
Which do persist
In daily errands
Battled
Waging wars
Against discomfort
As more practice
Towards that fear

Which rears
Its fading pulse
Throwing beats
Still out of rhythm
When real pain
Soon reaches climax
During dreams
They will disrupt

While such throbbing
In my sleep
Somehow wakes me
From their shelter
Behind eyelids
Begging refuge
Among heavens
Made of thought

Now believing
Every twinge
Is imagined
Without purpose
But what torture
God intended
Orbits death
Each breath I steal

Wasting time
He only gifts
If deserving
Of sheer terror
Where my tears
Hold purest feeling
Finding virtue
Within grief

Spelling words
And quiet prayers
Amid dangers
Briefly stated
Like one knife
Throughout my body
Making punctures
Inside flesh

Spilling verse
Besides this blood
So disabling
Though they’re freeing
Sharing wounds
As reassurance
How I’m here
Because it hurts.

– J. Pigno