Our dance is fluid and
well-rehearsed.
I hear the floorboards applaud your dedication to the craft
in the hollow hours of starless morning-

your flowers will arrive any day now.

I know the steps;
I know the routine.

We must circle the kitchen table
that you cracked with your corrupt lawbook,

that is claimed by my permanent shadow
outlined in coffee stains and unfinished sentences
a total of three times
before our tempo increases.

My hands grip the back of your
head-of-the-family,
“maybe we’ll have kids one day,
kids who will have my eyes and my heart and your hair”
chair.

In your stare’s sharp glow,
I can see your past lifetimes dancing.

Once, you were a knight who
gleamed under the light of the drunken moon,
and while he drooled ribbons of lust
onto the roofs of sleeping castles and cottages,

you would ride through the speckled night,
longing for something, someone,
to rescue.

But I was not a maiden
needing saving;

I was the willow tree
with billowing leaves
providing shade and safety
to those who needed haven.

Through it all,
I stood strong,
braving the seasons of grief and apathy but always,
always weeping.

I cannot detach like you; you
float above our screams
and become a one-man audience.
It’s just as well;

in your mind,
you are always the victor.

If only you could see my soul,
how it bathes in righteous fire,

was forged by centuries of perseverance.
Perhaps then my presence as a threat would be taken
with more than a grain of condescension.

My voice breaks and
my legs quiver and
I cannot counter the gravity that tears obey.

The moment you raise your voice,
my body surrenders before I could ever
have a chance at victory.

Wave after wave drips down my face
until I have cried the ocean,
and this is all you see.
All you ever see
is that I am crying,
and therefore you have won.

So let yourself feel taller
than your childhood ambitions,
but darling,
keep in mind that
while you construct your next great strike,
I revel in our cold sheets
as you try to drown out the resonating
of my final remarks.