Climbing into the Hollows Beneath my Rib Cage

Sometimes I love my friends
My dearest people closest to me
So much
So much
So much I don’t know what to do
With the swelling tide rising in my chest
This pressure
I don’t know what to do

I want them to be happy
I want them to be so very happy
But if I had to
I would settle for content
I would settle for safe
I would settle for ok
I would settle for here
I would settle
I would

I want them to have all that they deserve
I want to give them all that they deserve

I want them to

I want them too

I want them to stay
But one day they won’t
One day they won’t be here
One day they won’t stay anymore

They wiggle their way beneath my rib cage
Trying to find a comfortable hollow
I want to tell them how they’re treasured
I cannot
Eventually they abscond
Each one taking a fragment of me with them

I find another
And wish again
And think to myself
“I really really hope
This one will stay”

One day, I’ll have no ribs left
When that day comes, how will they remain?
Where will they live inside of me without spilling out rogue into my body like flesh from a gutted belly?

Until then
I hold a new arrival
I really hope this one will stay
While I still have enough ribs left
To hold them close