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Anything at All? by Ilisa

Runner-Up for February 2022

‘You are loved’ passed your lips,

But those words were not for me,

They were for you.

 

Did they assuage your guilt?

Feed your hungry, empty soul?

Fill you with pleasure,

As you filled my body with your own,

Once and never again,

Years’ wait, finally fulfilled.

 

Smothering,

As the poppies grow now from my throat,

Drowning,

Drowning,

Drowning,

Me in sweetest opium and the false euphoria,

The sublime feeling of what I thought was your love.

 

Do you ache?

Do you choke, 

Choke upon your words,

‘A mistake’

Your sinful lips whisper,

Never to be heard again.

 

Now I lie, 

In this prison of iron and brick,

Heart afire, 

Heart aflame,

Heart sundred,

Drowned in pain.

 

The light dims,

The blood drip,

Drip,

Drips,

A blossom of crimson,

As all else fades, 

And I wonder,

Do you feel anything at all?