---

This heat was heavensent -

some punishment or repentance

for a past marred with sin”

Is all my dehydrated conversation

With the wind,

That stabbing imp who came and went

To mock my charring skin,

Bleached with ultraviolent disinfectant

Angels of burning light

Discussing flames, both black and white

From above and below my sight

As day gives way to night

The crushing weight of empty height

Has suffocated all my might

As Death flashes his grinning scythe

I heave a brittle sigh

Mother! Won’t you let me come home?

Submerge me in maternal damp and dislodge the scalding soil from my throat

Lover! Oh, what cruel hell is this?

Torture me with memories of your smile on a beach, in a bright sundress

Each flare unleashes an attack

They crack their whip and leave a rip

Of dancing embers on my back

Clotting, festering, languid scabs just to tease another lash

The embers die until sunrise

This life of mine breaths ash

I will not grovel and pray for rain

If this is my sentence, then here is where I’ll stay

In a puddle of my own sweat and decay

Staring daggers through the pickets of heaven’s gate

My muscles release all their tense

My body now accepts the end

I hear a whisper: “Take my hand

if you want to see your family again”

Mother! Won’t you let me come home?

Submerge me in maternal damp and dislodge the scalding soil from my throat

Daughter! Oh, what cruel hell is this?

Torture me with fantasies of you and your beloved’s wedding dance