Life (Unraveled)

I unravel life
petal by petal,
and each petal
wraps around my neck
like a scream.

How can you escape it?
How can you smile?
How can you sing it
when all it asks for
is to be spat out?

I came here to praise life
not to bury it;
yet here I am
on my knees again
weeping at the graveside.

Choke on it
for I would never swallow it,
and yet I shall die trying.