an eclipse of moths -
hefty, hairy-legged creatures -
flap their wings
in my hollow chest,
vibrating bodies pounding
the roof of my torso and
rattling my ribcage,
demanding to be released.
i want to free them -
to open myself up and
emancipate the swarm.

but as screams turn to pleading whispers
i am a merciless warden -
a pearly clam latched to stone and
crusted over with barnacles,
held shut by time.
nothing moves me, and
i move for nothing.


the flurry of insects -
great, ghastly-looking beasts -
filled the space
in my hollow chest and
suffocating, they clawed with
millions of spindly limbs,
fighting until
the tissues and tendons
that knit my shoulders together
became undone.
they announced themselves -
opened me up and
flew to the light.

as the sands of time fall around me
i am but a silent shell -
a desolate husk on a
bed of seagrass
slowly fossilising,
a twitching fly in the web of time.
nothing moves me, and
i move for nothing.

© ailsey