the space above my ears.

Forget-Me-Not

A piece, in clarity.

One gesture, a word, just one,

Yet despite it all, we fall

Again.

So thank you now and thank you then.

My savior, faultless defender of children against shrinking shirt collars and skin pulled too tight over bone.

My losing gladiator who opposes truth,

Reduced to a sporadically-flickering mirage.

Close your eyes, don't look through the cracks, you aren't supposed to see that-

Fading into bad words peeled off a page, twisted slightly for the purpose of fitting our chapter in history.

They're not for you, they're not for anyone.

They're just

Here

Like monsters in the closet and cobras under the bed.

Cauterized.

Immune to the sting of parasympathetic tears.

Burnt out.

So far gone.