Die, My Love.

You broke a mirror in the bathroom,

and I crawled under the sink,

my fingers scrabbled

for the last, tiny shard of the missing piece;

sweat dripped from my armpits

and my knees hurt from crouching,

but love made me forget the ache of stiff limbs,

lest my youngest daughter tears her feet open on them;

Mother will heal, so she won't endure;

no daughter of mine will be lured by fake love.

I saw the glint of steel ...and it...lying there crumpled and alone.

It takes me back to that day;

The day when snow white tasted,

the poisoned apple of betrayal.

I remember the touch of your gaze,

caressing, savoring, raising gooseflesh on my arms

a physical weight, pressing me

into sheets of cement;

the touch of your gaze

unrelenting, unfamiliar, and unforgiving.

for eons, you held my city by the throat;

and every street was your captive,

and every road was your playground;

and every dark corner your domain.

my mother said if a man looks at you like that,

he must be mad, mad, mad;

but I misheard and ''love'' and ''obsession''

in my need to be loved, became one and the same.

Shakespear will love this play, I think.

I scream a warbled curse that fills my veins with poison--

pinpricks of ice stabs my knees and-

I yell; I b-bang my wings against your cage;

you hear, your face twists, our masks clatters to the floor,

reminders to be a good wife turns your mouth purple

but I smile, lips stretched over teeth,

Your hands rise to hit, to choke, to take,

but I'm gone-- I'm finally awake.

Mother will heal, and avenge

so my daughters won't endure;

Die, my love.

Die, my love.

Die, my love.

.

.......