When they tell you what you want to hear
and offer more than you're willing
to leave behind.
You stay,
and live,
torn in two,
until you've bled out
all of you.
Mask after mask they'll make,
and you believe and wear them all,
until all you have is fake.
Still you stay,
and live,
torn in three,
until there isn't anything
you haven't been.
They hollow out your world,
laughing fruitless lies.
Still you stay.
Tear yourself into hearts.
Separate your names.
Slip your own false smiles,
beneath their gilding.
And every eve,
while they dream,
you take one heart
and strike a crack in their foundation.
4/4/2018
