Hercules,

My hero, my idol

How I adored you.

You set my heart to fluttering

My words dripped with sweetness

So pure it made eyes water.



How I swooned and brought you

Offerings of the words from my heart

Lit votive candles to see you smile

And came to you ****** with a panther’s pelt

To cloak you in.



You glutted yourself on praise,

But still it wasn’t enough.

How gently you took your sacrifice from me

The words stop and please don’t wouldn’t leave my throat.

Clever or cruel you left no bruises for me to cry over

No wetness to prove your body touched mine

Not even a kiss to pretend that I wanted this, that I asked for it.



You left no evidence you ever existed.



Now I creep into the temple that was built to your charm

Smash every offering to pieces

Tear apart all the works of beauty dedicated to you.

Realize with eyes cleansed the rot that surrounds me.

The floor slick with blood

Of those faithful before me who found out the price of you.



The gentle votive candles that once only gave gentle warmth

now incinerate the wood of your temple

Devouring and devastating all in their path.

Four months later the inferno has become a bonfire

And one day it will be only dead embers.



The day I find the strength to turn my eyes from the blaze.

When I do not feel marked by the ashes of our friendship,

The day I forget how much I still want your blood on my hands.