when my hurt became audible
you protested with your history
I know only what I've known
and you begged me to be the bigger person
and so I was.
And so you grabbed one end of me
and I grabbed the other
and we pulled until taut, until
I was enormous, stretched
and distorted
like a lost giant or
A firefighter's trampoline-
my highest purpose became
to break your fall
and so I did
and so I did
and so I did