Repathing the midnight path to freedom

Written by Beth Davison

I will stay awake until the faces in the walls start screaming,

until the paint bleeds into fractured memories of fragmented cries.

I will stay awake for an eternity and

I swear

I can no longer walk.

I will stay awake and the lochs will dry and my tears will fall in torrents of scathing amulets

of crystalline death.

I will stay awake and you will walk straight by.

I will stay awake and you will ask how I have been and I will smile

God

I can't breathe. I will stay awake because I can't account for the last five years of living.

I will stay awake because you have stolen my days. But the nights? The nights

I will keep

for myself.

Photo taken by Beth Davison