Breathe Me Back to Life

Lord. I'm standing here with nothing left inside me. Not courage,

not clarity, not strength. Just this ache, this deep unending ache

that swallows me whole when no one is watching. I'm tired of pretending I'm fine,

I'm tired of holding myself together while everything inside me is collapsing one thought at

a time. There are nights, God, where I lie awake and feel

hollow. Like someone carved out the center of who I am

and left me hanging between open despair. Nights where breathing hurts,

where silence screams louder than anything I could ever say, where I feel