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The Harsh Comedown

A poem telling a story about my own personal experience living in the city, and how I navigated through the particularly cruel times.
Profile picture of @Laurenneastwood

Created by @Laurenneastwood

Published on Sep 10, 2025
woman walking down a city street faced away from the camera with a bus passing by
Daizy Isumi on Unsplash

The Harsh Comedown

i can’t remember the first time

i ever visited the city

i only remember the feeling

 

i felt small

limpid 

no one could see me

i was a hazy whirlwind of flesh and bone

no one could see me

 

 

and I liked it.

 

the invisible armour you wear

only lasts so long

isolation gets tedious

an ant must always follow their leader

an ant must always have his colony

follow their scent 

follow your tribe

 

you might carelessly wander 

into the belly of a spider

who promises sunshine after rain

epic (un)limited bliss with little to no price

only your life

 

the colony grows

with every bassline drop

and midnight riff

seclusion seems a distant dream

you might never be alone again

 

but you will wake up.

 

 yes

you will wake up.

 

after you return from the spiders belly

when the colony is nowhere to be found

their scent faded

you will wake up.

 

when your face becomes ugly

the shadow of your former self

clings desperately 

it’s claws gripping to your skin

begging

screaming

for you to not forget

they are not dead yet

 

when dusk turns to dark

and you’re left with 

a catatonic dread

it seethes in your veins and it spikes your mouth

your blood turns to poison

your words to venom

 

the spider bites will itch

tearing and ripping

deeper

deeper

into your core

your home

 

you might waste away

to rotting flesh and shattered bone

a ghost

 

 

then you will wake up.

 

you will keep waking up

every new morning

when there's a chill on your breath

or when your childhood bird sings with the sunrise

you will keep waking up

a ghost

 

until you don’t.

 

you will wake up

and the sky kisses you

the yellow and pink welcome you like old friends

and dance together in the air

they’ve missed you

the real you

 

the morning chill in your breath

or the early greeting from your childhood bird

doesn’t bother you anymore

the returning isolation

can’t touch you

 

you have paid your price

the hidden price in the spider's web

with bliss comes delusion

with delusion comes ignorance

and ignorance will leave you 

 

blind

 

but now you see

you are awake

wholly 

and most fiercely 

awake

 

never will you return 

to the rank and decrepit hole 

in which the spider makes its web

never will you return 

to the colony that left you for dead

you will be you

you have grown back the rotting flesh

and mended the shattered bones

now dance with your beautiful friends 

that glisten above you

alone

 

and you are happy

you just are

you be.

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