Come Lay Beside Me Please

Immolating anger sparks hotter

than a pyre, burning brighter with a fire

that smolders deeper than a ruby’s heart,

and shrouds me in its cloud of smoke

I choke, coughing out such vengeful words

that only ever stoke and burn

a rift between us as we suffer through

the aftermath. And yet despite it all

you never fall, nor bend beneath the heat

like a wilted flower pressed beneath the sun’s embrace.

You stand tall, a beacon in the night, so bright,

and beckon me back to your calming shoals.

Come lay beside me please.

My pride seethes at your request,

pacing the cage its been locked within

like a prowling lion seeking to dismember

the first one to surrender as you come closer

with a white flag raised. Roaring louder,

I claw my chest and beat my breast,

refusing to relent when the fire burning

inside feels so right. My pain can only blossom

when the ashes have been spread

and life springs from the deadened battleground,

the hill I died on to make my final stand.

And yet still you whisper, the gentlest breeze

That rustles through the blackened trees and

Clears the air between us.

Come lay beside me please.

Still, I cling to my frustration,

worried to let yet another part of myself go

though it digs its claws in deeper,

and rents a greater part of my soul,

cauterizing wounds sliced open as we

hash out this familiar fight.

I want to be right, but I know I chose

the wrong side. Gutted now and cast

in shadow, my fury’s candle flickers out

and drops me in a cavern, a despair

of my own making, taking me deeper

into guilt and sorrow, yet somehow still

you reach deep down and pull me from

the hollowed ground and whisper

Come lay beside me please.

Emptied out and chilled instead

where once the fire burnt and spread

between us, you pull me in and

hold me close, kiss my cheek,

wipe my tears, calm my fears

and bring to light the smile that

I tried to fight, to bury beneath this petty plight,

now forgotten in a lover’s embrace.

The fire gone, the beast now tamed,

I cast away the guilt and shame

And acquiesce to your request

Come lay beside me please.