Sever

    I pulled you in.
The air hot,
 sluggish.
 Old blood oozing throught the
empty spaces,
   dragging in and out
of lungs denied.

Long denied.

Cracks in the earth,
  waiting,
wanting.
  I pulled you in,
ivory against my
             fingerprints,
     fingernails,
        fingertips,
            however you like it.

And I touched
  rose petals
to crumpled paper.
   A soft, consuming, honest pressing.

Let the water flow.

  There were 168 pleas in this kiss.
      Long denied.

As the paper burns away,
  ashes on my face, touches me like a
whisper. I think of surprises, I think of sunrises.
    It was so much more, this
       so dramatic moment,
than I led myself
  to believe.

  "You fucking come around."

Yeah.
Lies, but lies are better than knives in the gut.

  I would have
    kept you,
  in my pocket.
  I would have been anything,
    the shadow of your mind.


Shadows and lies,
    long denied.

We pulled apart.
You walked away.


  And so did I.