The Blood & The Bones

Do not ask

how oceans surge

or stars die

or people leave

who swore they wouldn’t

and do not ask how you stumbled upon me

at just the right moment

or how here in this place I have somehow always known

that you will claim what has been mine

for far too long

this bed a waiting alter

this body a catacomb

and these windows

dark, reflective, safe keeping

but the night sky, she knows

she knows I am giving myself to you

or you’re taking me

I have learned it can be some of each and not all of one

crawling across the universe, the desert, the vast emptiness of longing

on bloody knees

in an attempt to comprehend

how souls are ripped from bodies and given back again

and now I crawl across this vessel, this bed

to you

the weight of forgiveness gifted to a girl who swore to never

ever

the weight of fear and us presses into my scarred belly

into the soft meat of my open thighs

and there is no longer an option to stop

for your sake or for mine

I ask myself how can fire be so tender

and how a drop of water can drown

how a blade can be coaxed to never cut

how a long open wound can be cauterized

by another’s touch

and how I know assuredly

this will be the last first time

but it is my turn to untie the knots

it is finally my turn

to come undone

••

the blood

& the bones

©️thebloodandthebones