Does he know
How much he risks?

When he doesn't hear you out
And you find yourself alone?
When he throws you out the house
And you walk dangerous streets at night?

Does he even know
How lucky he is?

When he slams the door
And shuts down out of anger?
When he looks the other way
While his family berates you?

If only you knew
Your glow
Your warmth
Your worth

You'd know
I'd give anything
To take his place

Learning sth new with you
Every day,
Facing situations
That would freak me out
You're guiding
Me with my fears
Through the crowd
Showing me
how easy
Life can be.

With you I become ready
To face the worst
To go through and beyond
The universe
To find magnificence
In all of it
No matter how
One would label it.

Does my clarinet  
blame herself  
when she  

screeches?  

I asked her —  
careful  
not to press  
the wrong buttons.  

She hummed along,  
nodded  
like a good girl.  

(𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?)

I’m the one  
who blows  
down her throat,  
pressing keys  
until she forgets  
how to breathe.  

Her voice cracked —  
guilt hung in the air  
like smoke.  

"𝘪 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯,"
she whispered.  
"𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦."

I strike her notes harder.  
She chokes out bits,  
broken pieces  
that only make me angrier.  

Your wheezing is because  
you’re fragile.  
Cheap.  
Not because of me.  

(...𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?)

"𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶,"
she sobbed.  

And I  
almost told her —  
𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗱𝗼.

But the truth  
lodged in my throat,  
behind the breath  
that made her scream.

Onto the next one,
This'll be the best one--
Funny how it's you again,
Wrapped in an awful loop again,
Needn't talk about the last one,
We're onto the next one,
And this,
Will be,
The Best One.

I’ve been told I’m too self-absorbed
But I can’t seem to absorb anyone else
We attempted your incorporation into my being
But I can’t seem to absorb anyone else

I’ve been walking down this road with you
For a while and we’ve been talking ‘bout what we could go do
I don’t want to be pretentious  
Or an arrogant tool
I just want to take you home
And make myself useful

I won’t be subdued
Unless that makes me cool with you
You’re my favorite person to talk to
But you saved my contact as some dude

I’ve been told I’m too self-absorbed
But I can’t seem to absorb anyone else
As elated as I am to say I’ve made your acquaintance
No, I can’t seem to absorb anyone else

You’ve got me running around
With your name in my mouth
And the taste of your *****
On my tongue

I wouldn’t call it romantic
Hell it’s barely even tantric
(You know) I only call you, “baby”
‘Cause you’re too young for me

I won’t be subdued
Unless that makes me cool with you
You’re my favorite person to talk to
But you saved my contact as some dude