PEOM - Satyress-Sore Manticore

I should have known from the way

your A’s ended like bloody knives

Guess I was too caught up

in the soft curl at the end

of each S to notice

You were like a mythical creature to me

You flew in the face

of this world’s predictability

But let others believe what they will

about your existence

It’s enough that I know you’re real

And it has to be enough

that you once sought lifesaving shelter

in my keep

It has to be enough,

because you weren’t only myth;

you were also a monster

You could still look at my face,

and recognize me with great ease

But that place within me

where you asked to be forever treasured,

that place is an unrecognizable plane

of devastation

That place has endured

so much damage from your absence

that it no longer bears

any resemblance to who I am

All you’d return to now are

the cruel caverns of your curt signature,

written a million times over,

wound upon wound

And taking you in again—the way I will,

against every good instinct I have

—would surely end

the very beating of my heart

if/when you leave me once more

alone with your lore