In my chest there is a wild animal

Its restless like a bird caught in a storm

Pacing at my floor of my rib-cage

The claws are made of questions

With sharpened with of doubt

Waking before me

Sensing danger even when there is none

Ears ringing at the slightest random noise 

They know the sound of fear

The way a wolf knows the scent of snow

All day it roams

Running around the softest parts of me

At the mistakes that ive thought ive made

But never did

It jumps at me in silence

As if quiet itself is a threat

Sometimes it collapses

Trembling under weight

Of everything i may have don and said wrong

With every path I didn't take

Every version of me

That could have been better or not existed

I try to calm it 

Slow breaths, soft hands

With a reminder that the world 

Is not alway a forest of teeth

But feat is a creature

That speaks with my instincts

Not logic

But i still keep trying

Opening the door of fear a little wider

Letting the light slip in

Letting the air shift

Letting the world prove to me that it is gentle

Taking it one small moment at a time 

So maybe one day 

The wildness in my chest

Will unclench its jaw 

Will trust the quietness

Will learn that every rustle 

Means run

Not every shadow that appears

Means its dangerous 

Not every heartbeat

Is a warning

So maybe one day 

It will stand beside me

Tall and proud and slow breathing

No longer being a threat

But it will be a reminder

That all the wild parts of me

Are only trying to keep me alive

– E. J.