heart in the briars

leaking
from my essential heart
the part about -- they never
accepted me as I was

well, by the same token
I never put myself out there
as I was

I let the pressures
of the movements of inconsequence
and the lust to be loved
push brambles over my heart
making it a bottomless floor
a trap door

and now
with clock running backwards
to catch itself cheating
I find you
solid and sultry
my own reflection
in the body of redemption

the trap is shut
I've exited
up