I wish you could see the steel-*****
ribs I carry
My backbone of shiny titanium
The diamond whites of my eyes
You can’t imagine how fast I’ve had to hold
How tight I’ve clutched my very soul
Close
Just how thoroughly strong I had to be
To become this delicate for you

Trials and trying times we have
Young hearts beating down a burnt race track
You know I’d bet on yours
The man with a plan kicked in a few locked doors,
And stumbled through the frame
The angel he’d seen in his dreams
Cried tears that fell to his name
Written on the floor
It’s nobody’s fault,
So what are we fighting for?
I would’ve given my all,
Then just a little bit more
Biting the hand that holds
Will turn it fair and cold
In defense

Standing tall and warm,
You can be so hard and hold so fast
And I’m still trying to break away from the mistakes I’ve had to taste,
They linger on my tongue
I overflow
I pour into the grass like a garden hose
Sometimes you set your metal bucket just before the flowers
Like you worry my rivers will drown us
You just appeared as an ocean to me
I waste my ink
Writing on the wooden gate you’ve built on the beach

Ask me how I can say
That you’re my forever
You’re my Calvary soldier
I’m both the princess and the tower  
I tell you that I just know
As sure as the sun
And the white of my bones
Hot, fast and always
Is how I think of you
Like summer traffic in the city
Cool, dangerous, wet
Swimming in the east end streets
Right where my mouth and your fingers meet
Inside the velvet of a midnight train
You hold me close and we both take the blame
For this incredible, difficult, beautiful thing

The beauty in breaking down
Is how we fall apart to maybe finally stand
I set the house aflame just to keep us warm,
Broke all the glass panes in the unlocked door  
Opened my sword case in vain
It’s only a weapon if it can hurt you,
And I bruise from the pouring rain
Though I couldn’t go on like this another single day,
What I would do
To be your exception again

“Think about that.”
Why don’t you think about the nights you’ll spend
Wishing you’d chosen different words
Me, I’ll be radiant and walking in the sun
And you’ll feel the weight of the tended soil you torched to ash
Before the roses bloomed

This rock that I carry in my chest
Pumps adrenaline
And tries to crawl up my throat
I try to let you go
I lay bare in bed and I’m burning up
Each breath quick, hot, and not enough
I’m a racehorse with water in her lungs