Inching back, wind at my back,
I gave and you advanced.
You asked for a smidgen, a little more lack,
And I stumbled as we danced.
I thought, Just an inch and she'll be satisfied,
And back again I crept,
Ignoring the hollowly howling tide
From over the ledge where the angry sea slept.
I dared not look back, for it frightened me so,
And anyway I could already feel
That a few feet behind lay the edge and below
A searing cold sea of hot steel.
The wind bit at my back and you snarled for a smile
And so my lips complied.
I asked could I maybe just rest for a while?
With cold sweetness you kindly replied:
"But it's only an inch, all I want is an inch!
I need my room to grow.
I can't breathe with you near, all I need is an inch,
It's so selfish of you, you know."
And you dangled the bait- knew I couldn't stand hate-
I folded and fell in my head,
Collapsed like a house of cards, crying, "Wait! Wait!"
Your threats weighing my veins down like lead.
I gave you a foot to repent at your feet,
For my terror of falling was matched
By my heart's crying need for a reason to beat
And my cold soul your sunlight to catch.
And by and by when I rose, weak, on trembling knees
And snatched a glance behind,
I saw not packed earth but a roiling sea-
I was fast running out of time.
I could feel the vast drop with a sense more than sight,
Like cat whiskers ***** in the dark.
I felt every moment the hunger of night,
And the break neck fall thundered my heart.
I said, "Darling, I'm scared and I've come unprepared
For a fall like the one right behind me.
I'm begging you, please, let's go back over there,
Where the sting of the cold cannot find me."
"You're kidding," you said, "Are you out of your head?
Look at all of the damage you've done!
You're selfish and sad, and whatever we had is dead-
I've a mind to just run!"
And then you stepped forth with another demand,
The inch that would make my decision.
But I cowered and crumbled at your biting command
As bitter rain and cold light blurred my vision.
"I'm sorry," I said, as I clutched the edge,
"You'd better be." you then replied.
And a hair's length from plummeting right off the ledge,
You demanded an inch and I cried.
Fingernails clutched the cold stone as I wept,
And I couldn't hold out any longer.
As you blindly demanded another last step,
Drops stung down from the slate grey sky, somber.
Tears mingled with rain, and then, only then,
Did I realize it's never enough.
Never would be or could be or will or has been,
For this is your real goal, my love.
As I peer up into your lovely cold eyes,
I finally know it's not me.
The moment I loved you I was marked to die,
And even when I have gone you won't see
That you backed me, my love, drove me right off a cliff,
Demanding an inch at a time.
And I fought for each one, not a second to miss-
Before I'd lose you and leave life behind.
And now in my moments of choice and of death,
I'm asking you, please, to believe me:
I've given my sanity, life, and last breath
To beseech you, my love, not to leave me.
Forgive me if tiny things mean far too much,
But I'm living in inches, you see.
And they've been eroded and taken and touched
Until this is the only one left me.
Slowly frittered away, inch by inch, day by day,
I have given up all that you gave me.
You have taken it back, please just give me today:
It's all I want, knowing nothing can save me.