You are corrosive
Bad for my health,
Your smell makes me gag
And your stare makes me cringe.

Every time I talk to you,
I need a cigarette.
My body starts to sweat
And I cannot look at your face.

You must be a demon
Has the Devil sent you?
Or maybe it was God
To mark all of my transgressions.
I can't decide which is my punishment
Being in your general vicinity
Or the flashbacks that keep me from sleeping.

Maybe I'm going crazy,
Off the deep end, as they say.
All I remember is your curled, slimy lips
As they pressed against mine.
Your pudgy, grimy hands
As they explored my body.
Areas they had no right to trespass.

Then your memory triggers his.
His low, barely-audible voice
Penetrating my eardrums as if it was a siren
The way he looked at me, a child
As if I was much older.

His hands, I remember those too
They roamed the, at that time,
Untraveled and desolate crevices of my silhouette
A child's.

I remember how when I crawled on top of him
The journey felt like it took years.
His long legs seemed even longer than they were
And I seemed even smaller than I was.

The two of you have each destroyed
Different parts of me.
One part was innocence
The other was control.
Now I have neither.

You have taken everything from me
And I will give my life to get it back.