Paper Structures

Layer by layer we built them up
Paper structures clocking every day
Walked away, they fell apart
Gods playing Jenga with your mind.

Slipped through the cracks
A tenuous grip on reality with
a jaunty smile, a moment's glow
a deep-rooted lie.
Slippery and deceiving as glass, that facade
A cloak, shiny shield, ice locked on the river - 

An epidemic of silence.

Make a pyramid of empty tissue boxes
Paint the names of every one we've lost
Dip a brush in saltwater
drawn from the ocean of heartbreak
tinging saline with blood
out of respect for those who just...

Did you spiral out and get lost?
Or did you spiral in and find the end?

Now I know what it feels like
to be the best friend, the roommate
the first to get the call
the one people tiptoe around
and offer their condolences to.
 
You had walked away with your head held high.
I was so proud of you
and I still remember.