one mistake and falling goes the unabashedly tender, naively claimed the empresses land home, forgetful perhaps of what lengths it must go to earn its keep
With one slip of the tongue, knives were drawn
affection squashed
All traces of tenderness lost in a once softened gaze
(so fully, one swears it must not be the same eyes)
hardens, exposing a once tentatively stitched creature to the world's capacity for cruelty
To loneliness so great, to the knowledge that all one has, truly
When all niceties are stripped
(Or have fallen.. due to an irrational presumption of one’s right to practice autonomy)
Is one’s self
there is great disappointment that lies in arriving at the bottom of the barrel only to see a puddle
Or rather, droplets barely conjoined
mirroring eyes engulfed in terror
darting back and to,
the only soul, hell-bent on your survival
Is your own