“some day”
he whispered
against the trails
of ebbed tears
“some day
i’ll break you
and
you’ll let me
love you
you’ll let yourself
be beautiful again”

___________________

with an ease
calm
glide of fingers
he traced along
the lines
the signature
a memorable monster
a haunting beast
had left
on her skin

started to peel
where he was able
to grip
he pulled the scars
her body fell
apart
her heart
simply fell
he watched
as she crumbled
as he made her bleed
he lapped at
the taste of dread
kissed the scent
of morbidity

limb by limb
lay in dark red
glycerine
he set a match
a light
let the flames
lick away
what no human
was able to
let fire consume
what no mind
was supposed to

her screams
her pain
her despair
and fear
all that fear
and dread
he swallowed their ashes
the dissected
the exterminated
breathed them in
into him
his bloodstream
let them run
through his veins
let them settle
in his brain

with a heave
on both his knees
he scrambled
over dirty tiles
over broken floor boards
to her disembodied
her uncovered soul

he vowed to reunite
what once had been whole
but horrifying
had been missing pieces
while missing holes
now he held
her arms
her legs
her feet
her every fiber
and bodiless anatomy

without string
or stichtes
did he stick them
– her –
back together
stronger than
before
laced
by his own hands
and her own heart’s devotion
built from the broken
the footprints of a monster
only to be ripped open
by bloodied lips
to construct their own
path all over

with these new
wounds
new prints
he disassembled
what traces had been
so he could leave
their own memories
their own pain

with careful cruelty
he had
destroyed
he had
created
he had brought her
back to love

KH