Neurotoxin

Yellow bird

you sing to me

I hear you chirping in the wall

in my sleep

by day you vanish

Rootless

I taste dirt

petals float inside me

beckoning at clouds

waiting for rain

Yellow bird

I sing for you now

My voice is this pen

My audience the paper

Can you hear me?

you are inside me

somewhere

somehow

Shattered

drawn to echoes

I kneel in gray fields

roots tangled in shadows

lost below.

Yellow bird

Your revenant rides upon my voice

on the good days

lifting us up

audible only to those with ears to listen

Fading

sun spots in my eyes

clouds taste of ash

I choke on whiteness

please let me remain

Yellow bird

Your frail health, we share.

I will protect you from the pain

from a world that hates the weak,

the useless,

the small

leaves them in the wall

but please do not die, my yellow bird

you are my joy.