I feel like there's a second layer
forming under my skin,
From all the words unsaid,
I bet you'd drown if I let you in.

You're tired, you say,
You don't want to learn how to swim,
So you're skimming over dead cells,
Meanings that have turned into antonyms.

Day after day the superficial layer
It's getting thinner,
What you were once acquainted with
are now the cells of a stranger.

'Cause suddenly they're all seeping
into my blood stream,
Words like bricks that form a barrier,
Talking from behind a filter screen.

I'm only sorry for one thing,
That is my pale secrets greeting the sunlight,
Till I found them in your shadows,
And you got used to silence overnight.

I wish I could lend you my skin for a day,
Like an open letter for you to read,
But I fear one word said too much,
Would make a frail vein bleed.

Now you don't recognize my hand anymore,
So I don't need yours then,
Lying to you has already become
Very much like a second skin.

this is a love poem,
but i won't be gushing
about your enticing eyes
and perfect hair,
and to be fair,
i frankly won't care
if you lose them
because you are
so much more than
the strings on your scalp
and the stars in your sockets,
for your heart alone
punctured holes in my soul
and the way our fingers entwine
ties these bows
through the holes
in my soul
to keep me whole
and alive