How many lives can you lead
How many languages can you speak
How many worlds can you live in
How many stories can you tell

If you live in a shell

How many times can you
Keep learning the same lesson?

I would rest easy if
I knew you were mine to keep

But you’re a child
Of the universe
Free and unfettered

By rules and stifling conventions
You scale walls, stomach bulging
in tacky plastic armour
You write notes with uneven scrawl

You flex in the mirror
Congratulate yourself
Looking sideways to see if I approve

Your noisy aggression
Was a foil to your soft underbelly
It was unsettling, intriguing
I had to find out more

So you are the one
I chose to burn
The river I drowned in

I awoke, found myself sitting safe
Drinking peppermint tea
While thinking about you –
A distant memory
In my soul