Overwhelmed

Skin feels tight

Heart like a drum in a cage

Coffee cold

Deadlines scribbled on the page

Snake in the corner

I hear it breathing my name

Every small failure

Feeds that thing in my brain

Overwhelmed by my life

Overwhelmed by my faults

Every promise I make

Echoes down these dark halls

[haunting male chorus] Angels sing

“Begin”

Through the noise

Through the sin

One spark

One step

Every task is a battle won

Floorboards creak

As my past drags at my heels

Voices scrape

On the rust of all my fears

Mirror cracks

I don’t trust what I see

But the serpent laughs low

“You’re the lock and the key”

[low vocal register] I may be broken

buried in lists

Hands on the table

Heart in my fists

[angelic backing vocals] “Rise up

Breathe in”

I circle one line

“This is where I begin”