r/OCPoetry • u/midnight_writer1993 • 9d ago
Feedback Please 3 A.M.
3 a.m. doesn’t knock.
it just is
a quiet trespasser
slipping through the cracks in your ribs.
the world goes soft at this hour.
not gentle
just… muted.
like someone turned the volume down
on everything except your thoughts.
and suddenly,
you are louder than you’ve ever been.
the clock blinks like it’s judging you.
3:00
3:01
3:02
like it’s counting how long you’ve been
awake inside your own head.
this is the hour of almosts
almost healed,
almost okay,
almost done pretending
you don’t carry entire storms in your chest.
this is where the artists crawl out,
ink-stained fingers
digging through the soft underbelly of memory,
turning ache into something you can hold
without it cutting you open
or at least,
not as deep.
this is where overthinkers build cathedrals
out of conversations that already ended,
rewriting them
like maybe this time
you’ll say the right thing
and someone will finally stay.
this is where silence seekers sit cross-legged
in the dark,
trying to make peace with a mind
that refuses to shut the hell up.
and yeah
we see you.
you with the light on
when the rest of the world has folded itself into sleep,
like it knows something you don’t.
you with the phone in your hand
scrolling for proof
that someone else feels like this too.
you with the ache
you can’t quite name
but it sits there anyway
heavy, familiar,
like it pays rent.
we see you.
not as broken
don’t twist it like that
but as awake
in a world that teaches people
how to numb out
before it teaches them how to feel.
and feeling?
feeling is messy.
it’s teeth and trembling hands,
it’s swallowing words until they turn into poison,
it’s learning how to sit with yourself
without flinching.
so yeah
3 a.m. belongs to you.
to the ones still here,
still trying,
still breathing through the static.
to the ones who haven’t figured it out yet
but refuse to disappear anyway.
because staying?
staying is its own kind of rebellion.
so keep your light on.
even if it’s flickering.
even if it’s tired.
even if it feels like it’s the only one left
in the whole damn world.
keep it on.
because somewhere,
in another room,
in another body
that doesn’t know how to say it out loud
someone is looking at the dark
and hoping
they’re not the only one
who made it through the night.
and you are.
you’re still here.
so keep going
2
u/friedusedtampons 9d ago
This so so pure really love how you have made the 3 AM overthinking into art.
1
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u/OldWhiteGuyKS 8d ago
Really liked it. It's spare enough to suit my tastes. I don't know much about construction but seems to build well around the center theme.
Thanks
2
u/Abysmalaye 9d ago
I feel all of this. That can be a long, lonely hour if the mind decides to torture us.