Latency

Does it ache to grow?
Does it steal your breath, 
and your body? 

At 11, 
as I began to blossom: 
Breasts, Bellicosity, and Beauty, 
I got sick. 

MONO.
Mononucleosis 

It lingered, 
and lingered. 

ME
Myalgic encephalomyelitis

Stuck in excruciating latency, 
I never really died. 
I never really fought. 

I thought that pain 
was folded into forehead creases. 

I thought that up
was empty.