Mornings of cinnamon-fried donuts

Days of sweaty foreheads and rosey cheeks

Evenings of dancing barefoot across cool grass

Nights of fire-smoke and charcoaled hands

Moments that flew by as quickly as they came

Life was timeless

Until an overbearing cat

Laid itself on my chest

It’s weight making it hard to breathe

To dream

I enjoyed the solitude it gave

But I hated the complacent comfort it created

It’s purr cooled the hatred into numbness

Each purr caused it’s claws to sink into me a little more

My thoughts became incoherent; stagnant

Dust-filled air clouded a dim-lit room

It’s fur left me itching at my skin until it bled

Reminding me that I was still alive

Yet only as a shell of myself

Moments flew by, unnoticed, as quickly as they came

Mornings of hollowed-eyed stares in the mirror

Days of cold feet and picked-at-skin

Evenings of pacing across dead confidence

Nights of burnt-loathing and restless thoughts

The cat dragged in

A flower

That wilted before ever being fully bloomed