Don't Leave Me Here

Don't leave me here!

I'm begging you to take me with you

I can't stand this solitary darkness,

I'm lost in a world of shadows.

They have no warmth,

no tender embrace.

Just cold clutches and silent glances.

Don't leave me here!

I'm begging you to talk to me.

I can't bear to listen to the pulse of my blood,

the tapping of my heart on my chest.

I'm only alive enough to breathe,

but dead enough to be numb.

it's just enough to  remember

I'm empty, hollow, and scared.

Don't leave me here!

I'm begging you to love me.

I can't cry until you're here,

until you tell me I'm real enough to cry. 

I don't deserve the satisfaction of

justification of my own faults.

I'm guilty of more than you know.

But don't leave me with these flaws, 

they intensify

they magnify with loneliness.

Don't leave me here!

I'm begging you to save me.

I just want you to hold me,

to rock me until the shadows fall away.

To pet my hair and calm my heart,

tell me I'm not perfect

and I don't have to be.

Tell me I'm lovely.

Tell me my fears are shallow

and have no root.

Then tell me you won't leave me.

Tell me you won't leave me.

Tell me you won't learn to hate me

as I have.

Tell me you won't desert me

as others have.

Tell me I don't have to be lonely.

Written June 12th, 2004; Updated October 8th, 2021