Sacrifice

Half-strutting
Cautiously sauntering
Secretly proud of the overlarge hands tucked by the thumbs in his pockets
Trapped between reckless abandon and paralyzing fear
Pushed forward by default
Bearing the fire with dark joy
Patent leather boots
Tapping out the rhythms of his soul’s lament.

Suspended above the morbid pavement
Knocking toe to ground for the sake of appearance
Molten gold flickering through rich chocolate hair
Amazon bronze skin
Concealing the crippling lacerations of her anguished heart

She knows the slow, sure poison in her moist lips, the sweet curve of her cheek
She pleads with her captivating eyes
He is too entranced to see her plaintive warning,
The fear swelling within her battle-wearied mind

Desperate, she strikes blindly
Impaling him upon the cross of love
For a moment, he is engulfed by the
Writhing, rending, tearing, obliterating
But each splintered spike submits to the heat of his passion
Melted down and absorbed

He pushes forth, girding himself against the pain, making it a part of him
His left hand meets hers, drinking from the cool mountain well
As his right ascends, braving the lightning crackling in her hair
And he leans forward
His trembling lips crossing the distance in eternity
More helpless than Zeno’s runner

They touch.
And now, quickly, she is fading, fleeing
Sublimating into the anguish of the betrayed child
Violet ribbons slither from her imploding heart, suffocating her
A present for the gaping darkness

She is swallowed
And he jumps in after her
He leaps for love, beauty, innocence, idealism, hope into the ravenous maw of sorrow
He is swallowed

And he smiles.