Nobody’s Ghost

My heart may be as common as paper
but it is filled to the margins with love.
My love was not yours to take
it is mine to share, however I choose.

–

I have scars that spill when torn.
I have masks fused and worn to bits.
I have skin as thin as air,
every breath holds me captive
in someone else’s lungs.
I tried to sympathize with the devil
but his nefarious tongue set fire
to all my hopes and dreams.

–

Alone in this war I am still legion.
I have taken on whole armies with my bare hands.
And although fractured I am still too much
for any one person to suppress.

–

All life is a kind of hypnosis
one day bleeds into the next
and I am not always awake
when the sun splits the darkness.
You overtook me though I was only a child
forced yourself onto my body
and claimed me as part of your entitlement.

–

You defined man always in terms of cruelty
and you were proud to participate in that cruelty.
To avenge myself
I choose to live on, without you.
I choose not to judge other men
by your warped standards.
I choose to feel my pain
however deep it goes
without letting it rape me into a ghost.