I see you, the warmth of your unsteady grip as you lead me through the maze of cracks in you, carved by pagan ghosts of a crumbling temple. I see you, the worn edges of puzzle pieces flung deep into the labyrinth, trampled by false heroes weary of your mismatched corners. I see you. Clinging…

What love, if not mine, could burn as bright? Rubbed smooth against hesitant skin. Your bird of prey in wartime flight, rogue hearts conjoined as twins. The rituals of bacchanal praise, wild worship worn in wound, drunken nights and fasting days, self-flagellation etched in runes. Devotion chanted in my head with every offering made. From…

You seek a love patterned in roses that tremble at a touch and open and close in tune as you bud and bloom in crowded rooms. My love would prune—young buds in sharp blood. Blind roaming eyes and pierce wandering palms that stop for a moment’s curiosity. You do wrong to seek freedom in a…