Walking Pneumonia

I liken it to my bout with pneumonia

The doctor called it walking pneumonia
Because I don't know when to stop
I let something consume me
In hopes that I can still
Make it out alive
I function daily

My heart filled with
An unquenchable longing
My chest bruised and scarred

Held together with

Fresh sutures
Breathing becomes difficult
I feel that tickle creep in my throat

When I have been silent too long

When the whiskey is my friend
And I am not sleeping again
I feel the familiar burning
Rise up in my chest
And I wonder
How others waste 

Oxygen so easily

How they move 

Through life so freely

Untouched by the

Pain and suffering 

Oh how I envy them...

~Amber C. Smith 2015