What I Have Learned from Your Love

includes this truth: My heart will mend
even as you punch in nuclear codes
destroy the family, destroy the life
if it does not bend, break it down
and revel in your own rage,
but mend I will. I am equipped

with needles and thread and buttons
to close the wounds your love opens
and when you have taken my supplies
I have used fingernails and hair
and teeth to patch myself up. I will
mend even after you grind me

to dust I will ignite and rise again
because you showed me a body
can suffer hundreds of impacts
small or great, as can the heart
and it will still breathe and move
and live. I will mend so take your love

and lacerate yourself with it
there is no longer any punishment
you can apply, even your death
will be a consequence for you
you are the one who will not
mend the conditions on your love-

because you will not give
you cannot receive.

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