We fight delicately, sniping, taking and giving verbal punches. Our skin doesn't bruise, maybe our egos our minds, but our bodies no. Our velvet arguing is seamless, flawless. Anyone listening would hear witty repartee. A couple playfully bantering, no more. Polite meritorious armament of words. Primed to fire a salvo of cruelty. Cruelty, covered and handled with crushed velvet gloves. Textured, cultured, arguing. Polite parrying, pleasant resentment. A bottle of wine, remnants of a meal, wounds needing to heal. Less or more cruel than a punch? This seamless linguistic pain. Bruises fade, pain subsides, mental cruelty resides.