This Never Was

Go ahead, tease these words from
skin soiled, from this lonely heart
hunger for the black blood in my
silver veins, a crimson current
pulsing of morse code
your polished flesh overflowing in
my grip, whispering at the pillow's
edge - this is nothing,
this never was

love's stain lingers, a cold winter
sin in the wake of my traveling tongue
traveling the parallel corridors
of your matron chords, children gasp
and the imagination runs rampant

bourbon on the brush that paints the
portrait of your unhappy corpse posing
as a wandering ghost, vapid smoke
veiled untethered to living demands
my code says more, hidden in the
ones and zeroes of my vascular system

a fist of your chameleon hair, your
mouth agape, the sounds prayers
summing demons to forgive us our sins
the rape of love, the rawhide coiled around
your wrists, a monochromatic winter
coming, as always, feeling alive
but refusing to believe it.

TA