There was so much red

And the concern that I would be

In

trouble

if it stained the carpet

Sitting in the shower

The door hastily

Secured behind me

With you outside (still raging)

I watched the water

change

like finger paint

There must have been

bandages

though clearly no stitches

and no apologies

24 years later

These scars on my arms

Are wide and deep

Rivers of loss

Oceans of slowly returning

memories

You have decided

Unilaterally

That we shall never speak

Of this day

You cannot hold the

white-hot

Knowledge of the

Acts

You have committed

To my memory