An urchin under the sun
on a bare rock, falls apart:
I would never eat a tender heart
(once so strategically protected)
and never dream of incursion
into the fortress of livid bone,
inked and armed, ready!
Bleeding black teardrop at the tip,
of each (s)word, Unpronounced.

I pause in stillness.
No cry of pain. No “save me “
written on the sand, with spines.
Still, you hurt, slow agony.

I would never break the shell
where the pulp shivers;
divert my gaze and watch the tide
and the glittering sand instead…

How I wish I had never taken a walk today,
and almost found myself a part
of you, falling apart.