My love
Hold pieces of this heart
bruised
and blue
Swollen by brutality
from an unnatural tongue
Lashed words
Left lesions
that can not be stitched with time

From these eyes
My hands are near
filled with tears
I catch and hold each drop
and drink a salted wine
Afraid my brine
turned to bitter shards
if they fall to ground
and we all bleed

“I should have you lay down upon shivs,
. . . Should put a molten poker to your breast,” she swears with no voice.

And to the sealed window goes
Hands upon the panes
Draws in the frost of moonless night
Cold now
So utterly cold now

My knees fold from under me
There is no strength that runs
a new course through my veins
I am empty
Spent of warmth
No embers burn in my hand
even the ashes sift through my fingers
When I rise
I’ll rise
heart congealed and numb

“I love you as I has never loved before
. . . as love, has before, never loved,” she swears as she rises to her feet.


jeanne rené 4/04
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"In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer."
-Albert Camus