Habits

Habits reek of rotting flesh 

Funnelled down the rancid drain

Unsightly smells and cold hard cash

Stinking even in the pouring rain

Habits, they say, could cost your life

But i’ll bet they couldn’t hurt much more 

Than the blade of the sharpest knife

Whittling skin down to its core

Habits get me through the darkest night

When no one would dare stay by my side

In the bruise black sky with no starlight 

Painfully silent for the sake of my pride

Habits are somehow learned not taught

Picked up like flowers along the road

Lined up neatly like cans store bought

Spelling out some undecipherable code

Habits are forever a dreamer’s disease

Caught in crossfire between reality

Always there, always eager to please

We’re forever indebted to their hospitality

Habits are such scary, deadly things

Holding us hostage yet keeping us sane

Rimming our eyes with ghoulish rings

While others look on with clear disdain

Habits are packaged in such a way 

That we hardly know what’s hiding inside

No one cares what the small letters say

Until a spark inside us has died

Habits come in thousands of forms

Laid out meticulously like books on shelves

Tailored to weather thousands of storms

Coating us each in our own protective shells

Habits, I’ve learned, burrow deep

Ever patiently biding their time

Parasites waiting for us to fall asleep

So no one sees them commit their crime

Habits settle for good to stay

Chipping at our scabs like paint

Impossible to rid, they don’t go away 

Leaving behind a permanent stain 

Habits forever holding me tight 

Stifling my breaths as I gasp for air

Never letting me out of sight 

The weight is not easy to bear 

Habits are demons that haunt my wake

Biting my thoughts, making them prey

I’ll give you anything you want to take 

Please just leave me alone today