dscn1772-2There is an edge
ever-changing, indescribable
and as you turn your shoulder
thinking the sun has only burnt
one side
the other is latticed
in marks of your exposure
as things of darkness will crawl
deep inside you like a well without end
and build with whitened fingers
their hungry descent
until you are changed
even as you taste the salt of your tears
staining your face like damage
blackening light into rotten parts
tearing your wings to pieces
it’s been so long you forgot
once you were able to climb
high into sky and feel something
unknown now like a lover
who has turned to enemy and stranger
instead without warning
the edge presents itself
in terrible hour like a sharp knife
one moment you are clinking glasses
smiling into the camera
and others remark
goodness she’s aged well
look how happy she looks
the next you are ripping the lies
from your arms, all that glitters
tearing into shreds artifice
tying together knots in hope
they can end
the sudden terror inhabiting you
always cruelest when it shows
just as you believe you might
have escaped
yoking you back
get on your knees
here you are, here you are
your toes grip the edge
you see the emptiness below
much like what lies inside
untethered, unnamed
for who can put a word
to terror? to hopelessness?
who can place a finger on the place
the rot set in and began
to devour the person you once were?
leaving a scarecrow
others do not see inside
the stuffing ready to ignite
they only see the perfect smile
accoutrements without truth
glittering like shards of glass
scattered in the night