The Night Poem by Stephanie Boccia

Things change in the night. I change. My mind becomes that of another person. It becomes hard to breath and difficult to think. Horrid! Horrid thoughts flood my mind, attacking my insides. Eating away at my frail body from the inside out. Biting at my flesh gnawing away at every last gasp of air I have left to breath. Changing me! Transforming me into a monster. A monster that I ounce locked away. Deep. Deep down in the vacant crevices of the pit of my stomach… I let go. The hellish creature takes hold of me. Climbing into my skin, lashing out against what remains of my desecrated frame. I lay there, beat. Done for. Manipulated from the tips of my toes, up. Mutated. Replaced with a corpse, strong by the beast and restricted to the confining movements of the puppeteer. This is not who am. This is not who I aim to be. I am more than this. I am more than this. These things. These horrid things used to only take place in the night. Only when the dark shades of the moon light up the sky creating a curtain of which no one could peer into. But now they're not only haunting my evenings but my days as well… It's not as easy to hide the noise in the day. Without a shade of protection blocking you from the judgmental grasp of the world. Do you ever feel like you're standing on the edge of a roof? Watching people pass by, down on the streets, going about their business with nothing in their way? While you, you, you that frail little spec of a thing dangling your scraggly legs from the rooftop are just begging for the courage to jump. But then you're subdued into that middle earth, feeling like you cant get out from under a sky that's already falling. Falling. Falling in reverse. And then you hear it. A hush in the trees. Just the rustle of leaves in the breeze. A whisper, a prayer, a momentary sting of silence. And all of a sudden, scared, tired, and under prepared, you force from the world a patient smile. Stand strong. Live. Breathe. Laugh, and embrace this shattering sea. Close your eyes and let that ship carry you're, bent and bruised body in this broken backed world, back to shore. You will find shelter in the ones who show you love. So come along little tree, follow me into the deep end, to the deep end with me.