Ribcage

lix

don't try and

change me

into this

idealised

paradox that

you see in me;

you will end

up drowning

in your own

marsh of

disdain and

disillusionment

for no amount

of glamour or

affection can

erase these tiny

marks that

are chiseled

intricately into

my skin, names

of people and

amongst those

people are you,

every letter that

you own strewn

along the rib

closest to my

heart, but still

my love was not

and will never be

enough for your

quintessential self,

you are pristine,

exquisite, and

fair; a gazelle

leaping through

the forest, a bird

flying in the air;

nothing can ever

come close to

such flawlessness,

not a hand, nor a

foot; nor arm, nor

face, and never

especially such

beaten fractured

shattered broken

being as

     m

       y

        s

         e

          l

           f

                                             - cade alexander