The Tears We All Share

Passed down

like a secret recipe

or an imitation gold heirloom ring

unique as our fingerprints

ubiquitous as oxygen

parasites hide in my DNA

thriving with every exhalation

marching across through my limbic system

they are legion hiding under a slimy shield

over my pre-frontal cortex

graffitiing words of mass self-destruction

on my thalamus

sleep can not chase them

in the funhouse mirror of nightmares

I see myself as a maggot

without a backbone - or weapon of defense

headed for defeat

at war

with a vaporous entity

that swims in the vast sea

of my chemical imbalance

© Julia Masi