Stay a Little Longer

Stay a little longer,

though you wake in your nightmare's bed

and you pace the hall,

without a body to toss and turn through the night.

Stay a little longer,

though the routines circle without time or place

and home is no longer home,

but stasis

sometimes fearful,

sometimes empty.

Stay a little longer,

though the well runs dry of memories,

and simple comforts seem foreign,

and excitement leads to anxieties,

and something's missing,

and you can't have words to name it,

but something's missing.

Notes: this was written when I originally thought the change in Rosemary's behavior was the result of cognitive decline. turns out it wasn't and she was herself in the end, though I don't like changing art to reflect my current reality unless it's something I made forever ago that I want to take another pass at.

she did stay a little longer.