Subsistence

why do you skirt the edges of your existence?
as if it is a fire that will burn if you get too close;
you are so afraid of the heat of the flames
that you cannot feel the burns caused by your fear

i can see it eating you away from the inside
the fear to love, to live, to be
like drops of acid, it dissolves everything it touches
leaving you pieces of yourself that don't fit together

you are bailing water out of a sinking lifeboat
when you could be swimming away;
you don't recognize the bars around your craft,
this prison you've trapped yourself in