MY LADY

vitriol veins

your words cut like shards of glass

jutting through my epidermis

as my body tries to clot the blood flow

damage remediation

hello, hello, we need help!! code blue!!

it's no help now.

i'm flatlining, and your lips keep forming words i don't want to hear

your face twists

your lips sneer

but i can't see because my vision is clouding over

and the sharp, burning pain flares up in my chest again and again and again

and you toss your head in disgust, spewing your venom

i try to block out the phantom of you haunting me

your face floating through the misty veil closing in front of my eyes

but nothing i do helps

because you don't want to leave

so you stay

and you keep moving your tongue

your filthy, filthy tongue

your wondrous, brilliant tongue

oh

the power it holds

only this wasn't quite the attack i expected (or wanted, really)

but i suppose we're past that now, aren't we?

we can't close the space between us because you're like poison ivy,

and if i touch you, i may burn

so you keep your distance

and i keep quiet

the iv shoved into the crook of my arm pumps saline solution into me

because the barbs you sling at me have burrowed somewhere deep into my veins

choking, choking, choking.

the tainted air between us is a little poisonous

like if i breathe it in, it may crawl into my lungs and turn them to soft ash and toxic smoke and crumbling dust

can you call the doctor, please?

i feel like i can't breathe.

i think it's because of you.

you take up too much space.

you should leave.