Anxiety

A jitter to her eyes

Half-steps bounce her close and closer to the wall

Neck stretched for a guillotine that will never hit

She’s asking me

To calm her down

To sing her a new lullaby

For the teenaged mind

I strum a cough

An apology for not being good enough

I’ve got one hand on her skeleton

The other trying to feed it into her skin

Humming cracks into calm exterior

Child, I say,

Child, I sing

Child, I cry

And crying is that new lullaby

And crying is that new lullaby