hell bound

And I know
you don’t mean what you say
when your mouth is full of poison.

And I know
you’re softer than your shadow
will ever let you be.

We love like oil and water
you burn on the surface,
and I vanish below it.

We may love wrong,
but we love real.

You carry your hurt like thunder.
I carry mine in my teeth—
like a gift I keep bringing back to you.

You say what hurts you,
spit it out in sparks and cinders.
I bury mine like bones in shallow dirt—
quiet, bitter, waiting to be tripped over.

Sometimes, I wonder
if you’re a place I wandered into
or a person I was always meant to meet.

You want love that’s like a jagged cut. 
I want love that’s like a bruise fading slow.

And yet—
when the smoke clears,
I still reach for you.
Even though sometimes you try to burn everything down,
I am happy with you.
because with you, even this burning house feels like home. 

• Buried Correspondence
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