You should know where you stand,
In life,
In realism,
Or perhaps in someone’s heart,
It might feel like you’re on a cloud,
But you could really be standing on nothing,

f                                                                
a                                                           
   l                                                    
     l                                               
      i                                          
       n                                  
         g                          
                      


down.

Light, light is warm
As the sun nurse us
But for light
It's all dark
Yes like time.

The longer I stand
At the edge of the cliff
I cannot tell
If the sign reads
“Caution”
Or
“Welcome”

With just a few words
you crush me to smithereens
taking and taking without giving
anything in return
Even as something in my chest
collapses
Even as I feel my walls crumble
nothing can halt the sting of hurt
that follows you
You handle words like a double-edged
blade
a prodigy in the art of inflicting
pain
Spitting acid into the air between
it collects beneath my flesh and
eats away at me from within
So I summon shields of wintery smiles
and icy eyes
in the futile hope it will ensconce
bandaged bruises
I make myself stand tall before you
unflinching
unrelenting
and unexpecting.

-Esther L. Krenzin-
-Roguesong-