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6.5k · Sep 2017
Peregrination
Arke Sep 2017
i remember being little when the
fire of my eyes still shone bright
my fingertips green with the world at the edge
i thought that someday i’d grow tall
like the linden trees
i wanted to stand before
things greater
than my imagination
experience the world with every
spare hundred dollars in my pocket
and now my branches have overgrown
and i can never be uprooted
so i stand tall and watch the planes overhead
flying to islands with names
i can’t pronounce
and i dream of the days when i was little
and still caught fire in my reflection
6.3k · Sep 2018
Invisible (Sonnet)
Arke Sep 2018
for all the love of life that is now lost
your voice rings through my mind like a warm song
regardless of sweet summers ending cost
creates poetry in my head ere long

our melting of minds and bodies now gone
but forgotten, your touch could never be
simple as the dusk which becomes the dawn
my love for you as pure, as it is free

I know you may not feel of me the same
perhaps never again will you be mine
and gone is the love that once easy came
perhaps your silence has become a sign

but my love for you will always ring true
and your love alone has carried me through
5.9k · May 2018
Boundless
Arke May 2018
a single column around
my favourite part,
the inside of your wrists
I brush the fibers against porcelain
wanting to leave a mark
let me create a map of red lines
and bruises on your skin
this way I'll know where to
lightly caress or
run my tongue along or
dig my fingers into

breath you into me
and sync our breaths
slow and calm
I run the bight along your arms
tug it across your chest
it is meticulous as the rope runs tandem
and I go slow
savouring each ******* fold
over, under, through, tighter, harder

your smile commands me
so I ask you to beg
tell me you want it
I want to hear it
tell me you want me
of course I'll give in
we both know you're in charge

I maintain tension with the rope
it's a language I've become fluent in
I maintain tension through eye contact
though I pray you won't see through me
I maintain control
of myself and keep to the task at hand
wrapping you like a gift, like my gift

subspace is a land I've never been to
but I know the face you make
when you get there
your eyes flit and I can sense your arousal
our breathing quickens
as you contract against my lips
you are unbound and released
as I pull the rope tighter

I'll bind you free
5.5k · Sep 2018
Mine
Arke Sep 2018
no introductions required
I don't need to know your name
nor you, mine
I'm here to bind
your naked wrists together
behind your bare back
slender shoulders
skin spilling over rope
watch your bare chest hitch
shallow breaths
restricted by my tension
careful to avoid your *******
cross the pattern along ribs
observing the bruises along your neck
as I move your hair out of my way
I am busy working
observing patches of blue and black
on your sides and stomach
where he had his way with you
and I feel a pang of envy
somewhere deep in my stomach
because I wish anyone would want me
the way he wants you
but I'm here to learn
how to fold string
create red patterns
on your soft skin
hoping someday, someone
will want to be bound
the way you are now
mine for more than just the hour
5.4k · Sep 2018
Recover
Arke Sep 2018
red torii gates separate the sacred
engraved with kana names
I step on the stone tiles
reinvent myself by praying
to every god I have never believed in
donating all the coins I have to shrines
the omamori will protect me
with pretty ribbons, silk, and wood
their birds guide to understanding
converting lies into truths before me
their paper songs a tender kindness
and there is courage within me
even as my voice turns to melody
my words spill out a tune
the temple walls hum
a chorus of veracity, louder
I have come to realize the importance
of moral authenticity within me
your gracious decency, divine
delicate gentleness with my fragility
from shattered pieces I rebuild
recollect myself and rise stronger
the sakura blossoms melt
the tide rises up the torii
compelled by a cold moon
wooden birds take flight away
and I return solid and true
5.2k · Nov 2018
Bondage
Arke Nov 2018
the rope dangles like a noose
I would beg for your sweet abuse
tell me how to hurt for fun
tie me up and come undone
paint my ankles with your thread
fibers rub to crimson red
I'm strong enough to take it
to your love I will commit
tell me all you plan to do
desire and come into
feel your fervour through the rope
feel your tongue against me *****
your need becomes mine to fill
tie me up, I'll be your thrill
4.3k · Sep 2018
Bloom
Arke Sep 2018
do you remember spending hours
in that old beat up car of yours
sharing fresh packs of gum
and old stories about love and loss
concerts we wouldn't see together
moments both shared and separate
and even now we laugh together
share a pint and share our scars
and I don't miss being that young
but when I look at you, I still see
the same person from a decade ago
and it's as though no time has passed
and we are both still teenagers
driving around way too late at night
you pressed your palm up against mine
comparing fingers and hands
I hoped you wouldn't see through
the red flush of my cheeks
so let's have one more pint
get sloppy drunk together
and compare the stars in our eyes
4.2k · Jul 2018
Tenderness
Arke Jul 2018
I thought I knew what love was
I read Austen, Bronte, and Shakespeare, too.
I thought I knew what love was
and then I fell in love with you

I am no stranger to love's life and lore
and had been nearly married once before
his alone I swore to be, forever long
thinking it was love until I heard your song

with kindness, passion, and care
you showed me what love could be
with you, my defenses are bare
and it's only your love that I see

I'll give myself to you because
I've found a love both warm and true
I never knew what love was
before I had met you
Now I know what love is.
3.2k · Jun 2018
Uncover
Arke Jun 2018
find a lover who writes you sonnets
who uses the darkest flecks of your eyes as ink
and the shades of your skin as paper
writing along the edges of your wrists and arms
with tongue and teeth
with purpose, truth, and love

find a lover whose heart sings to yours
a pianissimo summer sonata, dolce
using their words sotto voce against your ear
melodiously humming against your body
with their lips pressed to your neck
with passion, fire and tenderness

find a lover who creates art
using line weight in colloquy and canvas alike
to paint you with diamonds, as they see you
watch them carve your essence
with rainbows and pearls
with intensity, feeling, and beauty

find a lover who gives to you
who presents all the joys of life
unselfishly and without expectation
and when they give freely and openly
ensure that you, too, become a lover
who writes, sings, creates, and returns
2.7k · Aug 2018
Present
Arke Aug 2018
This is a gift exchange.

I would like to share with you some of my happiest moments:

Having breakfast at a restaurant on top of the mountains and watching the sun rise over sleepy houses.

Wine and food pairing tasting in the summer, near the lake. It smelled like fresh flowers and the breeze off the lake made the summer sun bearable.

Kissing you and realizing it felt like home, like I had found something I didn't even know I was missing.

Every memory shared has been a gift exchange, and your gifts are ones I will always cherish.

Thank you.
2.6k · Sep 2018
Craft
Arke Sep 2018
you giggle and tell me she likes me
as if I hadn't known all along
I knew from the moment she saw me
when her arms comforted me
and she hushed my crying soothingly
I know I can talk to her about literature
debate politics and human rights
laugh about science fiction or philosophy
and I remember her pink boy shorts
the ones that didn't cover anything
I can still smell the warm vanilla
that gathers on the edges of her neck
how soft her skin was under my fingers
but still, I doubt my ability to
make anyone happy (including myself)
so it's better for me to seem unattainable
because this way, I can't disappoint
her, or myself (or anyone else)
I pull away from the people who like me
it's just easier this way, I often think
I will become art work, beautiful
but best admired from 40 paces away
2.5k · Jul 2018
Destruct
Arke Jul 2018
they are old friends of mine
self doubt, self hatred, self destruction
their black gaping eyes
look at me knowingly
their bodies vibrate and pulse like anxiety
blood pours from their mouths when they speak
they whisper quietly that I'll never be good enough
I can't make myself happy, they remind me
how could I ever make anyone else happy?
they smile and show sets of teeth between red
entering uninvited, late at night
screaming obscenities and mocking me
demanding my time and energy
reminding me of all my shortcomings and failures
moments in my life that I was not enough (or too much)
and every moment coming, with premonition
I seat them into my home
though my consent has never been a requirement
they drip and ooze into the carpet
leaving thickened black sludge
and back handed compliments
identifying my worth based on shouldn'ts and didn'ts
         welcome, I tell them
though I don't want them here
         stay as long as you need to
I barely mouth the sounds of a silent cry
they expand and fill the room
until I can no longer breathe and they crush me
underneath their weight, and remind me I did this
to myself -- I welcomed them in, after all
I created them, I brought them here, and they are
mine
2.4k · Jun 2018
Corporeal
Arke Jun 2018
gold pours from your lips
tracing the edges of my hips
I count every star on your chest
diamonds dance along your sides
your broken french, silk
wrapping me to you, tied
us both together, tighter

lapis irises look at me
clear as the sunset sea
your body whispers
together we could form
obsidium and hauyne
our core is fire
we'll be together again

we had forgotten this feeling
primal and both healing
thunderstorms begin within me
our meeting surely kismet
certain as the rise of our moon
a volcano becomes active
I yearn to be with you soon
2.4k · Apr 2019
Intensity
Arke Apr 2019
I make being bad feel so good
You do as you're told, like you should
Always great at taking direction
Agreeing to my every predilection
Your bruised knees as you kneel
Filth when you tell me how it feels
Bite down on the pillow and grab my skin
I'll make you feel good with a little sin
****** you with my lips and kiss
Say I'm all you've ever missed
Let me use the cuffs or crop
Tell me when you've had enough
Whisper something to make you blush
Love your skin when it gets flush
Let's spend all night, just the two of us
Hands pressed together, nothing left to discuss
2.4k · Aug 2018
Inanimate
Arke Aug 2018
nothing's instantaneous
temperance a requirement
change forever targeted
til self becomes fragmented

heart an aqueous soluble
erstwhile deliquescent
puddled into pulp
taken out like trash

fitting for an adversary
malicious and malevolent
destructive to the starling
plucked and plunged to sea

so drown to suffocation
laudable attempts at termination
inundate your consciousness
using barrages of indifference

convinced affection's unattainable
death deserted and companionless
auspicious in my loneliness
asphyxiate to expiration
2.3k · Jul 2018
Resistance
Arke Jul 2018
stepford wife, smile bright
cook, clean, fix, listen, shine
a trophy, prize, conquest
overused, underloved, broken, dies
unassembled puzzle, incomplete
pieces an unclear fit, break
silent muzzled, scattered, quit
exhausted, out is in a box
for puzzles, games, like little talk
brought to shelved bars, stay
viewed only, never touched
succumb, suffocate, decay
2.3k · Jul 2018
Repair
Arke Jul 2018
when I craved kindness, passion, and fire, I stole
and they say no one person can complete you
but love, when you look at me, I am whole
and maybe we'll have thirty years together
but know the past century we were souls
intertwined with my arms around you

you make me beautiful when life takes a toll
I used to think that love only bruised
you've taught me that it's not about control
I used to think that pain was all that remained
but you came with love to heal and console
and show me the good that comes after midnight
2.2k · Nov 2018
Friendship
Arke Nov 2018
I remember when I started drinking
myself to excess and I thought of you
how you didn't deserve such a **** friend
who couldn't keep their life from spiraling

I protected you the only way I knew how
pushing you away hurt but it was right
though I felt like you were, at that moment,
the last string tethering me to existence itself

I knew I was no good for you the way I was
though I wanted to call or text dozens of times
tell you about getting in to school or how
I had both fallen in love (and lost them entirely)

it was easy to go back to friendship
we're both the same people
we both love and care about each other
I don't miss what we had, because it's still here
2.0k · Oct 2018
Hunger
Arke Oct 2018
chocolate covered fantasies
and peanut butter dreams
pin me down with rope
grab the cold whipped cream

paint me like a cake
with ribbons of sugar and gold leaf
watch me come undone
as my wrists feel your teeth

decorate me with candied raspberries
along my stomach and my sides
tease me with your lips
let me be your guide
got dared to write silly food **** by a friend.
2.0k · Sep 2018
Apparatus
Arke Sep 2018
my heart is wire and sinew
processing speeds and generated power
a motherboard that beats, beats, beats
you're a human, but baby,
I'm a machine

I'll keep powered until the day
my software is outdated
my ram slows down
the blue screen of death flickers
where I never reboot again

trade me in for a newer model
my feelings are connected to electricity
I've already processed my own abandonment
and have already grieved your absence
in a million different codes of binary

I remember your hands on my keys
you pushed all of my buttons
knew every function inside and out
you turned me on and kept me going
you are the spark that ran my code

but now, despite my own wishes
I'm made to keep running
I'll whirl and click and buzz and work
and for a moment, I nearly believed
that a machine could feel love
2.0k · Jul 2018
Overfill
Arke Jul 2018
when first words were exchanged
innocuous attempts to remove shirts
in the balmy summer heat
I was fallen snow, legs frozen
my mouth spoke
in metallic red and said,
in my darkest nights, it's always
your smile I see
it has always been your smile
and your countenance
in blissful dreams that delight
your essence fills
the darkest voids in both
heart and mind
I am brightened by your existence
you alone
have made me shine
when my fire faded entirely
a thousand years ago
I swear we soared
through starry night skies
and kissed on beaches before creation
with fingers laced before
bodies even existed
(though, I am ever so grateful for yours)
my eyes gave everything because
you are a boomerang of reciprocity
so see me as foolish or naive
explore my newly found optimism
because I now see colour
in our world as never before
tease and laugh and enjoy time with me
it it yours and I
exist for you
1.9k · Oct 2018
Fresh
Arke Oct 2018
a chemical cocktail spills from your lips
your tongue drips pure moonshine
table varnish leaks on the floor
i've been polishing for hours
can't get it clean, can't get clean
i scrub harder until my skin is red
and blood blemishes the rug nearby
my friends are the beams of sun
that show ashes in the air
i don't want to breathe it any more
i feel it scrape inside my lungs
wanting to get out and escape
white powder, lines of dust
and little pills that keep me sedated
my nose scrunches at the smell
of strong ozone and the taste
of metal forming in my mouth
while ironing out radiation particles
wondering where it all went so wrong
1.8k · Jul 2018
Waves
Arke Jul 2018
I thirst to be a water droplet

dancing on your skin
to kiss across your face
as I run down your jaw and chin
in the shower, we'd embrace

starting at your crest
I'd drip through your hair
and play along your chest
always handle you with care

meet you at your waist
I've fallen for you hard
what I'd give for just a taste
of speckles or skin, scarred

deeper yet I'd dive
just one lick with a smile
to be with you, I would strive
I'll spend thirty years, a bare while

when with you, time loses meaning
floating weightless in your ocean
the feeling of our hearts convening
connected in effortless slow-motion

and even if I reach the lake bottom
and even through hardships out of the blue
and even when my summer turns to autumn
more than anything, I long to be with you
started **** but now swimming through a sea of sentiment
1.8k · Sep 2018
Luck
Arke Sep 2018
they say the gods grant you
a wish if you build a thousand
origami paper cranes
I have built a million of them
using the finest coloured paper
from stalks of bamboo written in ink
each flies with a wish I've made
hundreds with the same whisper
that you'll find me again someday
they say good things come to those
who spare the life of a spider
I've spared every spider I have ever seen
since I was six years old, I was careful
talked to them often, quietly
so they wouldn't be lonely like me
gave them droplets of water late at night
and asked them if they would help me
find you again some day, too
now, good luck visits me late at dusk
when I dream of your countenance
my reward is the sweetest night
bliss at the moonlight against your softness
though I wake, alone once more
1.7k · Sep 2018
Lessons
Arke Sep 2018
love is not a scarcity
it is a renewable resource
if you've found it once
you will find it again

nothing is truly static
you will outgrow people,
places, relationships
and that's okay to do

remember when times are tough
the only person you should trust
whom you can always rely on
is yourself

we all age, we all die
so make sure the people
you love know how you feel
because they will not always be there

it's okay to leave a situation
that makes you unhappy
that's not selfish
it's self-preservation
Just a few life lessons I am still learning.
1.6k · Sep 2018
Ich Denke Dein
Arke Sep 2018
Ich denke dein,
wenn mir der Sonne schimmer
Vom Meere strahlt;

Ich denke dein,
wenn sich des Mondes Flimmer
In Quellen malt.

Ich sehe dich,
wenn auf dem fernen Wege

Der Staub sich hebt,
In tiefer Nacht,
wenn auf dem schmalen Stege

Der Wandrer bebt.
Ich höre dich,
wenn dort mit dumpfem Rauschen

Die Welle steigt.
Im stillen Haine geh' ich oft zu lauschen,
Wenn alles schweigt.

Ich bin bei dir,
du seist auch noch so ferne,

Du bist mir nah!
Die Sonne sinkt,
bald leuchten mir die Sterne.

O wärst du da!

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


*English Translation:

I Think of You

I think of you,
when I see the sun’s shimmer
Gleaming from the sea.

I think of you,
when the moon’s glimmer
Is reflected in the springs.

I see you,
when on the distant road

The dust rises,
In deep night,
when on the narrow bridge

The traveler trembles.
I hear you,
when with a dull roar
The wave surges.

In the quiet grove I often go to listen
When all is silent.

I am with you,
however far away you may be,
You are next to me!

The sun is setting,
soon the stars will shine upon me.

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1.6k · Aug 2018
Do Not Read
Arke Aug 2018
do not read this poem
it is not made for you
this poem is a secret untold
of a memory I rarely think of
that was resurrected today
and I am the only one who knows it
and this poem is for me alone

I was maybe 5 years old and I both
do and don't remember her falling
spilling out of the giant porch window
like a slippery black fish out of water
and I do and don't remember seeing blood
on the snow and sidewalk and the sound
first of the fall, then someone opening the door
and I didn't understand where she went
instead, I stayed with my grandmother
who told me it was my fault she jumped
she didn't love me any more and I was bad
that she wouldn't be back for me
and I believed it, of course, it made sense
some of us are just born wicked, I knew
I have always been wretched, inhumane
she said she first noticed the evil in me
when I was very little, behind my dead eyes
that it was always there inside of me
so I knew the only way to rid myself
of my own evil was to do the same thing
she had done, all those years ago
so I wrote a letter and labelled it
Do Not Read
the last letter I ever thought I'd have to write
and it's a sad sort of irony that I would be
paying homage to someone who hated me so
but the black fishes and spirits from beyond
never came for me, and I wondered if
the worst punishment of all would be
to continue to be haunted and survive
just as she had all those years ago
1.5k · Oct 2018
Effortless
1.4k · Nov 2018
Remain
Arke Nov 2018
I wish I could take your pain away
plant a garden of sunflowers someday
whisper I love you and that I'll stay
read to you while beside me, you lay
but day after day
I see the way you fray
how her words shatter and slay
but for some reason, you stay
at her whim, you obey
I felt your heart once stray
but you continued to delay
the inevitable, you downplayed
your unhappiness and dismay
I wish I could take back and unsay
the time I called 'us' a foolish cliché,
the smoke filled night at the cabaret
how late the dusk crept on the day-
we laid under stars in the milky way
talked about feelings and our soirée
your touch on my skin, like foreplay
looking back, you were my gateway
but for you, I was just another weekday
...and we both knew you'd never stay
1.4k · Aug 2018
Steer
Arke Aug 2018
broken shards of glass and snow
pick up each one blow by blow
mix my blood into the earth
paper tigers have no worth
set my sails to open sea
unbind the knots and set me free
I elucubrate my feeble quarrel
composed of petals, orchids floral
taste the crumbs and rusk abound
ne'er again to hear the sound
longing sighs and an exhale
and all the night could entail
but you care for dim shadows not
and dawn becomes long forgot
my words spill on pages flat
each sheet falls through the slat
my thesis burns by candle light
every sentence shifts more trite
but you remain my constant spark
and for a moment, hope embarks
1.4k · May 2018
Can't
Arke May 2018
I wanted to leave this morning with hope
Dreaming about how today would not be like yesterday
I could get up 15 minutes earlier
Wear that new little black dress that makes me feel good about myself
Catch the bus on time
Eat a good breakfast just like you've always told me to
But I got up and had a missed call
And that's when I found out you were gone
And I rolled over in bed hoping this would be a bad dream
And got up late
And put on that little black dress that I keep for funerals
And called a taxi to pick me up
And I saw you one last time, pale lips and eyes cold
I couldn't eat for days after
Your body hooked up to humming machines
I wish it had been me instead
1.4k · Aug 2018
Feed
Arke Aug 2018
you want to watch me flourish
you nourish my soul
around you, I bloom
and all my colours show
so let's take it slow tonight
I want your bites and bruises
tender plights and kisses
aching for your pain
teeth trail veins, craving you
we'll leave the world behind
1.4k · Sep 2018
Wasted
Arke Sep 2018
I think about time I've spent
moments in my life
watching ****** movies
eating bad food
working dead end job
after dead end job
staring at the blank wall
listening to ticking clocks
cheerfully counting down my demise
long walks I'd take at dusk
down the trails by the river
pretending I enjoy running
because the pounding of my heart
in my head made me feel alive
I'd think about life and death
and whether god exists
and whether love exists
about ***, philosophy, infinities
the hours I have spent writing
poetry and nonfiction
displaying myself for scrutiny
painting canvas that I hate
to make myself feel something
to hope it reaches someone
reading Nietzche and Foucault
as if my existence could matter
but along the way I found myself
and maybe all of these moments
have led up to something
consequential and meaningful
every moment is part of my journey
every experience is part of becoming
every hour has lead me to you
so not a single second
of my life has ever been wasted
1.3k · Sep 2018
Hard Truths
Arke Sep 2018
I needed to hear these words today
and I thought,
maybe you need to hear them, too

sometimes you’ll put up a good fight
you will do everything right in life
and you will still lose
sometimes you’ll hold on really hard
and realize there is no choice
but to let go and walk away
this isn't failure, or weakness
this is part of being human
acceptance is a strength

you cannot convince anyone to love you
not your mother, nor partner, nor friends
those in your life will never give you love
just because you want them to give it
love can move freely
it ebbs and flows in every direction
and it graces people with it's presence
just as quickly as it leaves us bereft
and perhaps it's fleeting nature
makes it all the more beautiful
when people who love each other
connect
Though, I dish out my love freely and it will always exist for those special people who are in my life. <3
1.3k · Oct 2018
Authenticity
Arke Oct 2018
your inhibitions have never made you attractive
the vapid silence adds value only to the weaker
who dislike a challenge or good conversation
so leave behind your moments of shame
or self conscious memories of low self esteem
become the person you desire to be
rather than the one who's role you've been playing
all these years
once you learn to let go you will be able
to move on with reckless abandon
natural and beautiful
and find the love and happiness you crave
within yourself
1.3k · Nov 2018
Gone
Arke Nov 2018
I'd rather lose you
than the argument
1.3k · Oct 2018
Methods
Arke Oct 2018
it would take
78 antidepressant pills or
60 mg of nicotine or
11 lbs of pasta or
4 bottles of wine or
2 minutes of carbon monoxide or
a single text message

to make my heart stop entirely
1.2k · May 2019
Eternal
Arke May 2019
If all good things must come to an end
Then the nightmare of losing you is forever
1.2k · Nov 2018
Giver
Arke Nov 2018
I like to think about her pleasing you
the sloppy drunken kisses planted
her fingers hastily unzipping your pants
hands groping your naked hips
that she would kneel before you
as if pleging her allegiance to you
working her hardest to draw out
sunflowers in fauvist orange
her tongue spiraling around
edges of your handsome sweetness
I only wish you could've enjoyed it
felt easy enough to love others back
there is not enough of it in this world
let her take you in if you'd like
your pleasure and happiness comes first
all I love deserves to be shared and seen
there is no point to hidden artwork
or unheard music, no matter how gorgeous
love, too, ought to be shared
1.2k · May 2019
Apart
Arke May 2019
you tell me what you've learned
from your "failed" marriage
when you fell for someone else;

"you can try to shirk away love
but the act of doing so will destroy you"

and a pang of sadness cuts deep
at the pit of my stomach as I realize
I will always be destroyed
1.1k · May 2018
Mother
Arke May 2018
Your wicked tongue awoke
Between crooked teeth
And a scarred smile

An accent at the boom
Of your voice; could shatter
Cities of marble to sand

The plague you've sent
As we prayed for an end
And you took your throne

But this is love, isn't it?
You whispered to us all
Through an open palm

This was all there is
And all that ever will be
You are the omega

You've slayed and conquered
But like caped crusaders fallen
You were mortal all along

And I realize that now
Whelmed through life's storm
You, too, never knew love
1.1k · Jun 2018
A Little Death
Arke Jun 2018
you're a lethal toxin underneath
pull the cutlass from your sheath
a little death never hurt anyone
place my hands 'round your gun

your kiss is an aimed ****
and yet I want to stand still
waiting for you to pull the trigger
a single look shows your vigor

use your scope in the dark
we both know I'm your mark
aim your sword to my breast
you are here at my behest

around my neck I'll feel your hands
and I will be at your command
I want the death you provide
cut me now, deep inside
1.1k · Aug 2018
Deca(y)de
Arke Aug 2018
you hold on so tightly that I suffocate
when I find the courage to escape
you delineate and debate
why can't enough be enough?
why not be happy with what we had?
we've been through thin and tough
we've experienced life's worst and survived
but sometimes love isn't enough
I've been bursting at the seams, deprived
maybe my happiness is selfish and weak
I could be undeserving of joy again
but I won't know unless I leave and seek
so please, I beg you, let me go
it'll hurt like hell for a while
but I know with time we will both grow
leaving a happy life of friendship and incompatibility after a decade feels impossible when one person is perfectly content, even when the other is perfectly miserable.
1.1k · Sep 2018
Remember
Arke Sep 2018
every human being you love
is going to hurt you
every human being you love
is going to leave you

but sometimes, you will find a human
that will heal you, too

- written by Krista DelleFemine, 2018.
find her work here: https://hellopoetry.com/kdellefemine/
1.1k · Sep 2018
Fallout
Arke Sep 2018
I'm subtle like an atomic bomb
keep my words laid back and calm
my heart is a glass grenade
feel it crack when my love fades
but still, I stayed
but still, I stayed in this charade
and built around a barricade

you know I'd rather talk this out
spent a decade to you devout
by your side through the drought
so quiet we would never shout
but still, I doubt
but still, I doubt the chosen route
and if I'd prefer to go without

(your tongue a jacketed hollow point
we've never gone to bed angry...
but regret, guilt, and empty sadness
is a fragile yet different parallel)

(I suspect my veins course with
plutonium and uranium...
I leak radioactive decay,
my half-life disintegrating)

there's a stillness when I explode
for a moment, time is slowed
you're in disbelief that I'd reload
the same feelings, the same road
but still, I bowed
but still, I bowed to your code
and stayed despite what you showed

my atoms begin anew to divide
no longer stable, can I abide
I feel a part of me has died
when to leave, I must decide
but still, I cried
but still, I cried by your side
until the day I walked out in stride

(your love is a weapon
I've been held at gunpoint for so long...
I never wanted to hurt you
but I can't keep hurting myself, either)
969 · Jun 2018
Prey Drive
Arke Jun 2018
do you feel fight or flight
norepinephrine through your veins
my nails against your skin
body delicate and responsive
lips bruised and stung
as i lick, nibble, bite
i sense veins pulsing with blood
burning hot with adrenaline
and i want you so desperately
i long to consume your words
devour your lips
take you in entirely
ravaged
exhausted
i want to smell you
fear, arousal, excitement
your flesh against my tongue
the sweetest moment of all
is not the thrill of the chase
it's the moment predator
captures prey
908 · Oct 2018
Early
Arke Oct 2018
you spoiled the ending of our book
but I wasn't ready to stop reading
893 · Aug 2018
Mercurial
Arke Aug 2018
no one can fathom
their mercurial will
no one can know
what life will fulfill

I've tempted fate
I live on borrowed time
because I've met you
I've experienced the sublime

when Lachesis cuts
woven threads of my life
I'll look back on moments
of happiness and strife

my life's constance is love
your smile is my bliss
while I'm still alive
your happiness is my wish
887 · Aug 2018
Arcus
Arke Aug 2018
you found her barely breathing
tangled in man-made traps
snares, chains, steel-jaws
here, even the gods can die

the sprite of seas and skies
and the rainbows, her golden wings
danced with the spectrum at her feet
now bleeding from shoulders and ankles

sure, the arches only form after the rain
but after years of torrential downpour
you found her drowning in a rainstorm
pierced with spears and plucked feathers

she performs no miracles and speaks no Latin
merely, she is old with enormous wings
she is no angel, and entirely undeserving
but still, you immortalize her with your touch
795 · Nov 2018
Scavenger
Arke Nov 2018
I write poetry when thoughts infect me
catching colloquy in a web to feast
my thorax alates pearlescent scales
I capture nectar from dewy books
***** waxy words that form in the back
of my throat in honeycomb shapes
they taste sweetest directly from my lips
until you notice six legs protruding
or ten eyes staring up at you in fear
the apex of my elytra is rainbow chrome
but all you see is a hardened shell
admittedly, all I've ever had is ability
to filiform syllables and sounds
dangle lexicon delicately from silk pages
in hopes of creating all the beauty
that I have never felt I possess in this form
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