You carried my heavy heart
Until I forgot it was mine
I sobbed like a child
I bared my soul
I was clean and weightless:
And then you gave it back.
And in that moment
I knew I would rather
Not have it at all
Than have anyone but you carry it
I still love you
I still hate you

I met a woman
brutal in her mercy.

Her embrace was a clinch
to prevent hard blows.
She pulled me close to push me away.
Seeing my nakedness
she leant me a dream
of chainmail and shield.
Taking love from me she gave a reprieve
to a mind resigned to the slow death of feeling.

Ignoring my words she heard
my faint silent heartbeat and
understood that it was music
too quiet for the world to hear
and turned it up louder
than I could stand.
I wept in my deafness
as she danced.