A heavy heart is met with tired eyes

With ashen lips on a pallor face 

She bewitches me, 

An alluring tragedy 

I feel soulless and sublimed 

What’s left of my substantive

flesh is dust at my fingertips 

‘Lady Darkness, I invite you.’ 

Breathe into me, 

Breathe out of me

She smiles into my bones 

And caresses my wasted flesh and blood

Without her, I’m disjointed 

But with her, I decay

My stomach spills 

As I hear harmonious chaos

At last, I see midnight 

With hazy, fleeting stars 

As warmth consumes me, 

She breathes my last breath 

With a siren’s cadence 

She sings me to sleep: 

‘Through all this time, turbulence, and terror

The least you could give me 

Is everything.’ 

Now, I am solely and simply…

Vanessa Cunningham (she/hers) is a junior psychology major and Blackburn's Psi Chi chapter president. She enjoys writing free verse poetry.