Running Faucet

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/6307672876

I left the faucet running
And my words are filling up
I try to screw my mouth closed
But it’s not tight enough.

You say you understand my world
And that you want to drown in what is me
You say you can swim and the water is fine
And that you’re the one who will never sink.

But still I try to keep myself
Under the tightest control
I try to keep my tongue from snapping
And the water from overflow.

But this time I left the faucet running
I wasn’t careful in my haste
Now the words are overflowing
And I can feel the pipe about to break.

Real water leaks down my cheeks
from the corners of my eyes
As I open my mouth and over my tongue
Rolls words I know you’ll despise.

The truth spills out
In an icy blast
Words of, “you don’t get it”
And “we’ll never last.”
I start to break you down
One atom at a time
I start to explain to you
How you fit into the worlds rhyme

All the things I’ve noticed
And all the things I’ve felt
All the tabs open in my brain
Finally making it melt.

I scream and cry
And stomp and curse
As I feel the water flowing out
I close my eyes
And hold my head
While you’re trying to figure out

What’s wrong with me
Why am I going psycho?
Why can’t I learn to calm down
And learn to let go?

You wait until I’m done
Until the water turns itself off
You wait until I stand up
And start to dry myself off

You wait until I patch up the pipe
With the closest roll of duct tape I could find
You wait until I mop up the mess
And clean myself up one more time.

I left the faucet running
And my words filled right up
I tried to screw my mouth closed
But it wasn’t tight enough.

My words they overflowed
Into the world and into you
Now all those ghosts of the past
Are standing in plain view.

What are you going to do?