I Can’t Breathe (Tragedy)

Have you ever felt this weight on your chest,

Like breathing’s a war and your heart’s a wreck?

I have.

I can’t breathe.

(Silent pause… a breathless moment.)

I’m struggling to balance what I want and what I need,

Been praying to God, but it’s like the devil’s been coaching the team.

I’m lost in my head, got nowhere to go,

I look at my mom and I cry ‘cause I know—

Time is a thief and it’s stealing her slow.

I’m rich in regrets, got a house with no soul.

Rooms full of silence, echoes too loud,

A phone full of names, but no one around.

Sometimes I sit in the shower and cry,

Water hides tears that fall from my eye.

I look in the mirror, there’s nobody there,

Just flesh and a face with a vacant stare.

I’m dying in poems, I bleed through the page,

A storm in my chest, a lifetime of rage.

Fire deep inside me,

Lingers to remind me—

I just live to fall,

Yeah, I lost it all.

I can’t breathe,

This pain won’t leave.

They left me for dead, but I am the sea.

I’m tired, but I can’t sleep.

I cry, but I don’t speak.

Anxiety tells me to stay discreet—

So I bleed in silence, stitched in defeat.

You were my family, now you’re a ghost,

Now I’m just numb, I don’t feel close.

Murder on my mind, heart still racing,

Memories burn and I’m still chasing.

I became the man you swore you’d hate,

Now I’m wearing that mask every day.

If life is a war, I’m too bruised to fight,

If pain is a friend, it’s slept over tonight.

I’m not asking for pity, just a moment of peace,

But even my shadow is starting to leave.

If I disappear, would you even know?

Or would you scroll past another “R.I.P.” post?

They never saw how deep I fell,

Too busy pretending I’m doing well.

I screamed, I begged, I wept, I burned,

But silence is all I ever earned.

What a tragedy, tragedy,

It’s what I had to be, had to be.

Take everything away,

Still I rise from the flame—

Fire deep inside me,

Lingers to remind me,

I just live to fall,

Yeah, I lost it all.

(I can’t breathe…)

But I’m still standing.

I lost it all…

But I’m not done demanding.

I can’t breathe…

But I still dream.

I still bleed.

I still scream.