<inhale>
your eyes are like sandpaper, rubbing raw
at my innocence under the streetlamps
that should have been repaired three years ago. i wish
i could look away, but
your razor hands are pushing me down
and your cruel eyes are stripping away my skin, my flesh
is vulnerable.

i wish i could breathe, but there is sand in my eyes
and gravel in my throat. you are so
heavy, so crass, so animal. my heartbeat
echoes your pants and gasps, bile
rises in my throat, and my bones tremble
under the weight of your ‘love’, but i
will never let you win,
not even when you strip me of my breath.

i will never walk gracefully to you, holding
my head down low like a lamb to the slaughter, like
a condemned man walking to his death. i
am a force of nature. i am a hurricane. i
am a tiger
stalking through the forest, i
will never let you win. i will look you in the eye as
you stab me through the chest. i am not destined for your
slaughterhouse, and i will breathe in till the end, because i
am not stardust, not
moonshine. i am not a delicate flower. i
am strong. i am the sun.
and i will shine.

<exhale>