you would be drowning
in an ocean of my love.
and i would drag you under
to hold you close
while you choke on your own regret.

you lick your lips, hunger settling in
say a prayer before your meal of sin
crude sentiments whispered like a hymn

(and so)   feverish flesh lie flat on a platter
         though i hardly get a say in the matter
       on how and when i am to be devoured

(and yet)              i give and feed
                        the male ego, preening
                 at the sound of forced satisfaction

(all the while)     black beetle eyes roam
                          i close my own, pretending
                  that you gaze upon my heated flesh
affectionately.

beneath the folds
of aged leather,
a poem of nostalgia
creates a tether
between two strangers
of different eras.
one long gone,
the other closer to forever.
for nameless and faceless is he,
head bowed and laughing,
captured in timeless reverie.

and i know he is gone,
yet i am still left grasping
at the fragment of stolen memory.
twisted, in my fervent hope,
but i still want to remember
the person i will never know.

i was there, you know.
ironic, my name is.
but yes, i saw Her.

i was Her, and i am Now
carrying the weight of Her 'crimes'
and my biggest transgression;

living up to the name that bears
the blasphemy
the sacrilege
the defiance

i am the catalyst
the divine
the scorned
and the blamed
i am the night before
forever more,

and yet, i do not carry my name with shame.

hold me like you have
three        breaths left
and you need     two    of them
to whisper;
"always and forever, sweet    one."