Dear Anxiety,

You tighten your grip around my neck everyday

and it takes so much of me to push you away,

but it’s not long before you’re back.

I know you won’t be the end of me,

But that’s not what you’re trying to be.

I see you in the corner of my eye in every room.

And when I don’t, I wait,

The phantom feeling of you

Reminding me of how you’ll always come back.

You make me think and think and think.

I can’t sleep.

I can’t do anything but think.

Pace. Pace. Pace.

Like a record player, my mind replays.

And I stop, for a moment of silence,

Hold my breath.

But how long can I hold it for?

You return with every breath.

Come back tenfold after my quick reprieve.

Because you were never really gone,

Because you’ll only leave when I draw my last.