Heart Strings
sestina synthetica by Dewi, Emily Roberts, Janet Rhodes, Kathleen Clarke Anderson, Michael Stalcup, marika bianca, and sestina master Yaasky
Tried to cleanse you of that mark
Bloodstained teeth on twice red kiss — Ssh, listen
baby, I know where he been, this stranger
fillin’ you up, ’coz I’m not liquor enough
Your wound, I vow, thinner than a razor
Your scars, I commit, deeper than your treason
Whoever has hurt you has hardly a mind, treason
Over reason, their souls only mark
The darkness of Lucifer’s. I’ll take a razor
To their hearts, I’ll make them listen,
But, it’ll never be enough;
Our lives are scarred by a stranger.
You and I, we are this Lucifer, this stranger
Our thousand cuts betray our mutual treason
Each requiring more than other can give: enough
To scar us both in Love’s own name! We mark
Our flaws on each other’s hearts; rob, not listen.
Which wound kills? Lay down this deadly razor!
She stood, perfectly still holding a straight edge razor
As she looked up into the knowing eyes of the stranger
Although his voice was far away she could somehow listen
He seemed to creep inside and capture doubts, treason
His words, his imploring way may have hit the mark
A tiny sound inside her cold, cold heart, whispers enough
My love, you’ve had, and you still are, enough.
Against this darkness, hope is sharpest when it’s razor
Thin, and though our scars may never die, you mark
My words: people have sailed through stranger
Tides and still come out alive; though treason
Longs to speak the final word, we must not listen!
Time tried to nail me to my place: I would not listen,
a lifetime filled with less than is enough,
I’ve had my fill of empty — give me treason!
Seeking to end this love that cuts with bluntest razor,
I fly into the arms of a dark stranger,
lying prone before him, I let him leave his mark
With two ears I listen as my heart beats “mark … mark”
With every cut, mark the feeling as stranger … stranger
Like the president’s treason; like green blood on a razor
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