I took my time,
I let you marinate, cooking tenderly
I let it burn
until it engulfed into an inferno
it was all so slow
   was
           all
                so
                      slow
Yet, I took too long
and I overcooked your skin
I favored a slow burn
now the blaze is a wildfire;
sweet time how you tasted, sweet time how you lied
for slow and steady didn't win the race this time.

fake roses, I desired;
authenticity, was never important
because with a beauty just like real roses
even if only from afar, even if only external,
it was all blissfully, naively, enough.

fixated so long with dozens of fake roses,
for fake roses I burned, for fake roses I wallowed;
the burning façades, the far-off daydreams
I thought it was enough
to add color to my garden of thorns.

and for fake roses I pathetically plundered,
for fake roses, I wore myself out;
but amidst sunflowers and lilies, I'm content to admit
for a tangible token that could never fulfill,
for fake roses, I'm glad I've outgrown for the real.

gone with the wind I went,
one summer day in sixteen;
behind in a slew of dust
I left them with the sidewalk chalk.
'should I stay or should I go'
is the question I'm still answering.
because fragments exist all around
where the sidewalk chalk use to be,
slow burn of a fire that burnt through the inside
and now the structure wavers,
littered and haunted with the winds of the past.

I called out to strangers and lovers for mercy,
to please stop the beatings for I'm no longer study;
my cries that were met with angels in a crescendo
the lost light that appeared in a bright yellow.
Then what had materialized on the other side
emerging with arms open wide,
but that of my glittering prize,
and I was embraced and loved by the kindest of eyes
'twas gone prior thoughts, instead a newfound sign
and for that, I'll love you a long time.

It seemed I was dying,
with feelings that choked me
and ripped apart at my skin--
but you were a ruler, a lord, or a saint
praised by a kingdom
while I starved in alleyways.
so, may I inquire
why you maintained all
while I looked for an answer?

Desiccation, besieged me,
crawling through a desert on scrapped knees,
twirling slowly, arms to the sky
summoning rain or anything to get by;  
pleading for Death,
with every quivering breath.
I sought after salvation
yet hapless findings brought forth only damnation.
My eyes, I questioned of deceit when I stumbled
an oasis open wide, once then I crumbled,
lying finally quenched and finally anew
like spring thunder or morning dew.