
Utter Exhaustion
Have you ever been so tired
That your bones all creak
Like a tree's branches in a gale,
Or gate hinges in the summertime?
Have you ever been so tired
That the dust whipping around the skies
Seems to have settled in your joints
And caked your eyes with choking silence?
Have you ever been so tired
That the very weight of the world
Becomes a burden too heavy to carry
And slips from your weary shoulders?
Have you ever been so tired
That the sunlight seems to drink
The energy from your skin,
Sip it from your thudding veins?
Have you ever been so tired
That your brain sinks into mush,
Refusing to think another thought
Or move another twitching muscle?
For those with a louder voice
Inside than out,
That gut-wrenching exhaustion
Is a part of our beings,
A reminder of all this life
Could drown us within our sleep.
That exhaustion makes us old
And wiser beyond our years,
Yet no one believes us when
We speak the truth,
For we are too young to understand
The workings of the heart and mind.
That is how tired we are.