james

am I the string round your heart
cleaned out patted dry
trussed up ready to sell

?

am I the ice in your eyes
I keep skating over shredding your corneas
as if your hurt is not mine
was not

I am the thorn in your side
the trapped nerve hanging off
the cross you carry
on your broken shoulders

let me take it away

let me go

am I your jailer?
are you so relieved now
when i do not cry

that you have to smile so
for the parole you revoked
annuls
all your sentences

I am not scheming for your lips
touching mine with more than cold duty

I am not swindling my way
into curling my arm around you
underneath the covers we share

I am not plotting my next attack
on your battered senses
or your bruised body
I am not timing my madness by the benefit it brings

no more

you said you knew the day I would die

I tell you he will come slowly for me
dragging his nails
pinching tiny peices of my flesh away

but you

run fast
I will hold all my strength at the door
start the engine and go