set free

black plague

you always said that my insides were

littered with ash from my weak bones

and i was taking in carbon monoxide

instead of pure oxygen; you always

said that the black plague would spread

from my mind to my lungs to my mouth,

and now i can't seem to stop lying

about not hurting; you always said

that i would be a fallen soldier in a fight

for the strong and now i realise you were

right, because it curls its wisps of sickness

around me, until i am being crushed under

a  d e a d  weight,

but the black plague that has spread

from my mind to my lungs to my mouth,

will not let me breathe out the truth now,

and i will not give in and tell you that:

i am not okay.

i will not hand you a victory in your words.