CRACKED WALLS & SPRAY-PAINTED WORDS

I don't know how much longer I can stand

My legs are beginning to splinter

         beneath my weight

My eyes are covered by boards

to keep even the animals from gracing my veins

The jaw that opened

to welcome friends and strangers

left to hang

 snapped

halfway off its hinges

Despite my covered eyes I cannot help

but see memories of the families I once cared for

In reality they’ve abandoned me here

yet I still see them dancing through my head

Like nothing happened

Shadows dance along with them throughout my skull

 warped

by the headlights of passing by cars 

I hold a museum of artifacts of the human condition 

in my rotting arms

My flesh was once covered

in paintings and framed pictures

Professionals throughout the ages

casting their brush against the canvas

My flesh is an empty canvas

any words ever dreamt could be placed

upon my peeling skin

But after all the time spent

tearing away the boards on my eyes

exploring my dust filled veins

All they leave behind are

hearts sprayed with initials 

nestled within them

and their names with space underneath

Just to say they were here

for all they truly want

is to live on in someone's memory

I

have remembered

all the people that left my arms

When my legs finally give out

And I fall

Crashing to pieces of splintered plywood

and crushed bones

No one will mourn for me

They will not even know

I am gone