I've been keeping time by candles and calendars, and having dreams that I can actually remember. Like the one I can't shake where I didn't walk away, and the ones where I give far more than I take. I can see you now. Your hair spun around the sun. Your hands on my veins as if to say, just breathe: Nothing's here to stay. Where's the tan skin? Where's the sun? Where's the shade? Where's the sweat? How much longer before your skin falls off and I can forget? I always saw everything I ever wanted with my head in your lap, now I only see mirrors I pass after they've claimed what they ask. I always sang loudest when your ears caught my voice... Everyone has their days, but this just isn't my year, and if I had anything to lose, well would I still be here? I've been often straining and throwing my voice into the faces of strangers who only hear it as noise So of course then I'd quit, if acceptance coined my birth but I'm as far from accepted, for who I am and what I've learned... as I'll ever be.