melancholy swirls

melancholy swirls

it forms a puddle around me

it chills me to the bone

an icy slush

.

anxiety enfolds me like wild vines

i blink, i swallow, i see pink

my circuitry is frayed

my rational mind, a fragmented puzzle

.

like my mother, the moon

i try to change, to reframe

like jellyfish

i try to embrace the rise, the fall, the tides

.

i make it to another sunset

another day as a vessel of color, light, chaos

on the horizon, the sun-touched ocean is gleaming red

but the sky, midnight blue, kissed by stars, beckons me home.

.

-AL