A Box

There was a box of endless torment
I hid it in a shelf
Tried my best to ignore it
Nothing ever really helped
I had nowhere I could go
Though I knew what I needed
It wasn't safe to walk that road
Fought so long to defeat it
Many tears had left my eyes
Rivers for me to swim across
Vicious dreams tore through my insides
Scraping me red and raw
Air that touched exposed flesh
Didn't seem worth the fight of breathing
Desperation said to just choose death
To shut up the internal screaming
Threads of torment from old boxes
Made their way into the new
Binding themselves around each other
Shaping my foggy view
Trapped in space invaded
No fresh oxygen to find
Time ticked as I wasted
Bit by bit losing my mind
I'd been carrying too much weight
Much more than I could handle
I really should have known one day
That eventually I'd dismantle
I broke and unlocked the box
I did it with trembling hands
I craved so hard to fall to pieces
But there was nowhere secure to land
So I maintained my "okay" pose
And released some pieces that still burned
Set them free into the atmosphere
Hoping my sanity would return
If the key lies within the wreckage
I guess I have to rummage through
Uncover scraps that could create it
There's nothing else I can do
Because the box of endless torment
Has a fix that's out of reach
And simply locking a lid on it
Had nothing good to teach
As I lay in the bed of shock
Without a thing to soothe me deep
I'm just glad painful nights are calmer
And that I can catch some needed sleep