Shells crunch underfoot,
you watch me
grimacing.
How can you?
My eyes plead
silently,
as the slime of guts
oozes onto the path.
Gasping and fighting
to watch me grow
into a woman
knowing it will never be.
Running through the tunnels
branches and leaves
snag
then release.
I watch you grow
row upon row
bursting with life, crimson,
golden, green.
You fade slowly
in my childish eyes.
Pain weeps;
you try to hold on.
Is there no other way?
I dare not say.
Your expert foot
makes its mark.
Always black, shone
to perfection.
One careful twist
to a violent end.
"I'll miss you."
Salty trickles flow
in the furrows of time
"How can you let go?"
I collect the enemy
in a plastic tub.
Feed them,
watch them.
Taken away for their crime
of leaving a trail.
Slime on a bedroom wall.
Discarded.
The sound of your breath
makes me lose mine
knowing you love me
and saying goodbye.
Every leaf, in time will grow
to resemble that childhood.
A certain scent brings you
to me.
But I am careless
letting things run wild.
Our enemy is shared
yet I cannot give them a black death.
Shone to perfection.
