Bitter Pill

Boot on the floor

Black coat breathing

You want more

You carve days

On the back of your hand

Another cheap faith

In a child-proof plan

You sip bright lies

From a pharmacy glass

They say "hold on"

While they watch you collapse

Hope is life’s bitter pill

You choke it down

Stand still

It will eat you alive if you let it

Kick you in the face

Don’t forget it

Hope is life’s bitter pill

And it smiles while it kills

Hallway ghosts

In the waiting room chairs

Blue light buzz

And a thousand blank stares

You trade your spine

For a second-hand prayer

Every "maybe"

Ties a noose in the air

Spit it out

On the hospital tile

Red in the sink

White-knuckle denial

They sold you a cure

For the ache in your chest

But all that it did

Was teach you bitter regret

So tear off the label

Let it shatter

Let it spill

If this is all that saves you

Let the darkness have its fill

Bite back the dose

Let the bottle spill

If hope is what kills

I’ll learn to live with the ill