Halcyon

untitled #2

one day, or day one,
it was always the pair of us,
walking, laughing side-by-side,
lighting the room with borrowed sunlight,
trusting the quiet between your words,
your stories and your blames.
we were thick as thieves, you affirmed,
sugary, sweet, sweet talk.
oh, i got this friendship,
screw its fragile glass
we can sew it back,
thread through broken splinters.
what the hell was i even thinking?

a friend in high places
is always a fair-weather friend,
but a friend to the end, you affirmed.
did i wait for the end too long
so long the end won the race,
one i never wanted to enter?
a faithful shadow can also be
the one that follows secretly.
is a steady hand a support or a control?
light shimmering so bright
that the blur between
mentor and manipulator intensified.
ever in your good graces,
for sure, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

red flags were present,
like red-inked writing on an ivory wall.
aren't i a naive fool for thinking
it was just the rain bleeding?
betrayed with a smile,
wool pulled over my eyes,
oh, look, the penny drops.
(you) led me down the garden path,
pushed me to the snakes in the grass,
and as i lay there, bitten, crestfallen,
wondering where the smiling assassin
hid the knife all this while—
oh, wait. i sense the pain,
and suddenly i know where the knife is.

it is in my back,
and the backstabber
is suddenly a familiar stranger.