If I could
Swallow liquid fire
And replace
The traces of
Your name in my
Bloodstream
With burning,
Cleansing flame,
Then I would
Drink until
I was consumed
No more
By scathing
Thoughts
Of you

Is this feeling too premature
To say the three words
That dance on the tip of my tongue?
I can't help but wonder
If this same phrase lingers
Behind your lips
Like a timid child,
Simply waiting to be sure enough
To emerge from its hiding place.

My hands search
For a grip
That won't falter

My arms stretch
To find warmth
Where I lay

My eyes burn
With a past
I can't alter

My heart aches
For a love
That will stay.

I wore that shirt
Today
The one
You once told me
You liked.
Crimson
With holes
In the shoulders.
But when I
Slipped it
Over my head
I thought only of the
Fabric on my skin
Instead of
The words that
You said.

Suddenly the city walls
Have started to crumble,
An entire dreamscape
Desecrated
By some unseen hand
Within the space of
Only seconds.
The evidence of this chaos
Is not so violent
In physical form:
Swollen,
Shadowed eyes
And fresh teardrops
Burning down
Color drained cheeks.
But how her chest aches,
That empty cavity
Where her heart used to be,
Caved-in
And collapsed
Just like
The city walls
And the dreams
That once lived
Behind them.

I'm not sure what this feeling is
Blossoming in my chest,
But I know this for certain:
That I want it
To stay.

I want to say,

I don’t care–
I don’t care if
You feel nothing
For me

But I do,
And it tears
My heart
In two.

Do not tell me
What I am to you,
For words
Have lost their
Meanings
Voices forming
Hollow sounds
Without minds
Intervening

Show me
What I am to you
In the way
You warm my skin
And look at me
With eyes
That hush
The pain that
Stirs within