I've had an itch so deep
It's squirmed inside my bones
It's in my fingernails
It's crawling into my home

I'm coming down with something
It's coming down with me

It follows me into the dirt
Tells me I need to be set free
It shows me all the things
I could ever long to see

For once I see, clearly;
It's only going to deplete
All that I hold dear
Until my soul's defeat

And I can't keep any near

I'm not afraid of dying-
Just afraid of being left,
But I needn't fear a thing;
We're never truly bereft.

I leaned on that figure
In the edges of our minds
Said, "Should I fade away,
Please let me take my time."

My habits do not heal;
They just come back, a different test.
I'm coming down with something.
I think I've lost my own respect.

It snuffed the fire in my veins,
Stripped me of my own love.
I still make my body move,
But it's moved on to someone else

I try to reignite the pyre;
Set my body aflame instead.
I gnash and claw at the bindings;
Only my own blood is shed.

So as my scales turn to ash,
And youth melts from my bones;
Don't forget to keep loving,
Or love'll leave you on its own.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Chronos, in the year 949 AF.