Haunting

Betrayal tastes inorganic: penny running along the tongue, razor blades in the gums.

Castor oil in the eyes and honey-suckered flies, distorted in its matrix.

Sorrow, black and barren and hideous plunges itself deep within the confines of warmth, passion, love.

It turns blood frigid- painful in the skin it was born to nourish.

I help them gather stones to throw at me, believing we would build a home with them.

I strip myself of my valuables, nuzzling my neck to the guillotine blade in belief they would make it swift- but my neck, my shoulders, my back are decorated in their sloppy butchering.

But I will haunt them. I am the metal in their mouths, the blade in their chests, the raven watching. Waiting. Taking, taking, taking.