Reflection

With You I'll Never Hang My Noose

I've been trying to put it to words,
  to collect those thoughts wholly,
    and to combine them singularly
     into an explanation---
Not an excuse.
Not an apology.
Not a proposal.

I just want you to understand
  how I got to where I am,
  and why I feel the way I do,
  so maybe you'll move past it faster
  than others seem to do.

I think you have so much potential,
  that you'll be easier than the rest
  in whom I'll find a place of quarry,
 and, us, the strength to bare
  each other's chests.

With you I'll never hang my noose,
  nor try to break the skin;
  I'll push at my own darkness
  just to give you a fighting chance.

When all is said and over,
  when we've given ourselves rest
  and the lamented moments have fled away:
  you'll have emptied all my graves.

JH
06.16.16/09.21-22.16/11.30.16

This is my favorite poem from this year so far. I'm not sure that I consider it my best: it just feels like it summarizes all I am at this moment, still.