-tentative horizons

         
I've always been taken by how daylight gathers    
in the corners of your sublime smile          
like it was inspired by the essence
of every forgotten sunrise that had given its all    
in an effort to redefine the early morning sky          
         
and I adore how you always mean well    
even when you say you don't, just so
you can keep up the facade of some bad girl
one would never feel comfortable taking home
to their mother, in order to hide that fear no one
knows you live with, or so you've always thought
up until now          
         
though, there really is a little bad girl to be found      
in your stride, as you wander along aimlessly          
like a hunter with a secret desire to be hunted by          
game you once considered more of a threat    
than your usual quarry, so you never bothered    
to chase it too far into the thicket          
         
while you've become an expert at tiptoeing    
from shadow to shadow, you're still as unsure    
of how to proceed as a lone wolf smart enough    
to know that man has many tricks, so you routinely    
choose not to risk that which you keep closest to heart    
because you know it's a difficult trap to get out of    
once you've gone for the bait