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black roses
trail and tease
slippery glistening
he hands one to
you and you smile
so faintly that
the wind could
blow it away
orange clouds
and steam that
paints the sky
red
pastels in
your pocket
take them out
paint a picture
of bones and
hollow cheeks
glittering eyes
that stare above
from circles
dark and deep

trail those thorns
across your
stomach feel the
scratches forming
crimson digs that
remind you of
nights spent with your
mother
how she used to
sink her nails
into your arm
like a cat
with a half snarl
on her pretty face
you always wanted
to be beautiful like
mama
a lady lithe and smooth
rustling skirts and
the faint smell of perfume
that you used to
spray onto your
wrists on days she
wasn't home

touch a hand to the
blood slipping across
your skin like red silk
still warm
lick it away
from your fingers slowly
and carefully feel the
thorns dig into the
flesh of your thighs
and smile even as
it melts off your face

take the thorned
stem and take it into your
mouth slippery wet
blood trailing from
the corners of your
mouth
chew thoughtfully
eat your pain
and feel it scratch
scratch down your
throat

nights spent smiling
as the blood spilled
effortlessly into
the sink
the wounds like gaping
crevices that
call for you to fall
into them
blood roses black
with your shadow
world tainted
scraggly lines
on the soft skin of
your stomach

tottering at
the sharp edge the
glass chorus
below playing a
funeral march
the smoke from your
funeral pyre
painting the sky grey
and black

slip into the black
dark and call to god
but he doesn't answer
shuddering silence
moves stealthily
my own silence