The ghost of you hung in the air and I knelt before your demon.

I knew who you were. I had accepted my fate long ago, and far away in a time that never existed. Clinging to a hope you would see what I saw when I looked at my reflection in your eyes. The reverberation of rage in your voice told me you had not noticed. I bowed my head over my kneeling knees.

Keeping my eyes on the cement, I watched as your feet paced in front of me. I knew better than to raise my head, to catch your eye, to catch the fury that would follow.

There was a sadness in the air as I felt your disappointment. Your pacing feet did not display this disappointment. The shadow of the past, he hung hiding in the corners.

He weeped.

I was at peace, as the air hissed, and your fist caught the side of my head. My body slumped and sighed. I lay there for a moment before you realized what you had done.

Two ghosts brushed past each other. They turned in recognition and locked eyes. A lifetime of emotions filled the air, suffocating all who existed in it. Two ghosts dissolved into opposite directions.

You looked down in anger. Disbelief took over. When you pushed me, softly, with your fingertips, your ghost came back. That's when you felt the sadness.

It cracked at your hardened heart and you remembered. You cried your tears into my hair. Hoping, like a fairytale your tears would bring me back.

I gave up on the fairytale in the time long ago that never existed. The ghost of me hung in the air, only for a moment. It couldn't leave before knowing you were sorry.

Malleable and fun mimicry.

Pliable, I can push you into any shape that fits my mood. I like to make you round and smooth, whirling you around in my hand. Then, I'll roll you out on the table to make a faceless snake. Swinging you around like a dancer on silks. You amuse me. Or sometimes, I'll flatten you out into a pancake.

A nearby newspaper adds to my fun.

"Oh Marmaduke! What crazy mess have you gotten yourself into today?"

But you are not Marmaduke or even a newspaper depiction of him. You are silly putty. And in your silly putty world everything is backwards.

S t r e t c h e d O u t

Manipulated and recreated but never as good as the original.

You are just a shapeless blob. What will you do when everyone finds out you're a fraud?

Hush little baby

Don't say a word 

Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird

And if a mocking bird won't do

Mama's gonna teach you

A thing or two

Cause in this world 

It's tit for tat

No more nic-nac-paddy-whack

Jack and Jill go up the hill

Where Jack falls down 

Fucked up on pills

Jill helps pay for Jack's drug habit

By rentin out 'er pussy 

To horny jackrabbits

Hey diddle diddle a cop and a fiddle

Jack gets high as the moon

Of course; Jill cries to get out of a pinch

In jail, Jacks a lil spoon

Now Jill's the old woman who lives in a shoe

Has so many children 

She doesn't know what to do

Feeds 'em govt cheese and govt bread

Whips them all soundly 

And puts 'em to bed

Then DCF comes

And takes 'em away

Bounces 'em round til they come of age

Then tosses 'em out, right on to the street

Delinquents and ruffians

Each one of em be

No parents or morals or nursery rhymes

No twinkle twinkle 

No little star shine

Hey diddle diddle a cat and a fiddle

Lost eyes stare at the moon

Childhood lost no future ahead

Her little soul left for ruin

**for my niece and the half dozen half siblings she'll never know...

My stomach sickens

In realization

For the first time since a moment ago

I am nothing

I mean shit to you

Grey eyes forward

The world beckoning

Grey eyes look up

Nod of approval

Little hand letting go

Watery brown eyes