Open your hand

Open your hand

It is clenched

Too tightly closed

In anguish

At every single sound

The high pitched screech

Of cicadas

The squeak of a shoe

Across cracked lino

A whistle

In the whoosh of cold air

As the wind whips through

An open door

Teeth ground so hard

You break a jaw

The tip tap

Of a wooden cane

On a polished floor

Leaves crunching

Beneath heavy feet

The groan of a chair

As you take your seat

Every cry

Of a passing bird

The loudest whisper

You ever heard

How does it stop

When nerve ends fray

The trough growing deeper

Day by day

Buried up to the neck

Up over your head

Breaking

In waves

Waking the dead

Choking the life

Out of what

You hold dear

Unless you let go

The thing you most fear

Will continue

To grow

Until the pressure pops

Your heart stops

And you drop

Too far down

To revive

Or ever hope to survive.