We walked down a beaten path
Worn pebbles and dusty need

You froze
The world followed
Your lead
Tension impatiently crackled the air
Boundless adolescent longings in a moment
Secure in a reflection held fast by your will
At loss for reaction
Taken under the guise of interest
just that

Recognition as a lie
Settled sweetly
Upon crumpled, torn ambition
Burnt edges of the things that would never be

Earth echoed taunts of youth
Fabricated during sweaty, expectant nights
cheek against which slivers would be drawn quietly
dragged stubbornly across jagged edges to lacerate
to rub myself away
Small sacrifices to the altar upon which i put
The things I wished I had the resolve to discard

as long as you made it real
Auctioned off to the highest bidder
i was there for the taking
Someone took
and all I wasn't flew on the backs of
Mocking angels
whom considered the earth's jest
Pure genius
i flashed a crooked smile too
For it amused me most of all

i froze
Drowned in your eyes
wanting to give you everything i never had
Neatly pressed in a splintered, cedar box
painted colors I never favored
Perhaps your cheek would find it's way too

Drawing closer, you clasped my clumsy arm
nervous and apprehensive, desire to pull away
Scarred arm
such beautiful hands
Lips rigid, I was a man losing a battle
of his own devising
Yet his
attempting to trace upon your tongue with mine
Things it never allowed me to speak
wrestling around in warm delicious need
Dry need
Dusty need

staggering back
Icy realization
my intent had soured in your mouth
Which would speak later
of the rainbow box
Packed far too tightly
with nothing in particular

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