Help me
I’ve been shot
Not in the body
the body would be easier
This was a quieter place
A deeper place
The kind you can’t point to
On any map
It happened fast
A moment I didn’t see coming
Raised its weapon
And fired straight through
The part of me
That still believed
I was safe
I dropped
Not to the ground
But into myself
Into that dim hallway
Where old fears
Hang like portraits
And every door
Leads back
To something I swore
I’d already survived
I press my hands
Against the wound
But they pass through it
Like trying to hold
A shadow still
I can feel the past
Leaking out of me
Warm
Relentless
Refusing to clot
If someone finds me
Tell them I wasn’t careless
Tell them I wasn’t weak
Tell them I was running
Toward a brighter room
When the darkness
Took aim
Tell them I was trying
Even as I fell
Even as I whispered
To whatever listens
In the silence
Help me
I’ve been shot
And I’m still
Trying to stand