Love conquers those who ask only for refuge. Sit in the silence of Midas. So far, & further than that from your thoughts. Black wings untethered. Surrounded they demand surrender. To kiss the blade with bursting lips. The feather touch of the whispering lies. Absently touch my neck. I remember. & in remembering, i utter devastation. On myself to know you have forgotten & will never remember again. I will remember. & is that not enough. For you. It must be. For me. It cannot. I will slowly turn to face this. Talk me down. further. I am what it means to forget. Black eyes & curved beak. Hanging heavily on my bones. Picked clean. So take what this is. I will utter your name. The claws will carve my skin. Walk into the rising murder with wings that laugh hollowly. I have my teeth in my hands & i am no longer afraid. Fear implies the unknown & you have known me. For all my emptiness, i remember that you took your time. & is that not enough? You have found a way for it to be. & i am a mistake at the base of the stairs, the white knuckled hand that waits to rise. It’s not knowing that it never was... it was. Hope. The broken bones that ground together. The stones that scratch under my skin. Faceless. It’s knowing that it never will be. The startled echoes of a black ending as you descended the stairs & felt all that i am. “I felt nothing.” In your own words. You said i wanted to force you to be sorry, when i didn’t want you to be sorry at all. Your relief that i am finally gone. Live like i will never be. That i never was. Circling. Distant. Nothing. You felt it. I know that i have never been. The thing i remember most is that you laughed at me & lied from behind your smile as i tore myself limb from limb.