Pieces of Her

When she loves

She dives in

A gleeful child

Barefoot in summertime

Leaping off the pier

Into the sun-warmed lake

Sometimes love isn't

A lakeside summer

But a blade

Cruel and barbed

Piercing deep

Hooking into

Her insides

Until she can't

Pull away

Without tearing

Herself

Apart

Little mouths nurse

On the blood she sheds

Tiny unspoiled souls

As perfect as she

Not yet knowing

How painful

It is

To love

But she gives until she's dry

And loves them fiercely

As fiercely as

A mother bear

She is beautiful when she cries

When she thinks no one

Should see

Beautiful when she bleeds

When she is torn open

Not realizing

Until she looks

At herself

For the first time

Understanding

That she is as real

As the precious ones

For whom she bleeds

Does she know

The bear that bleeds

As it pulls free

Of the steel jawed trap

Still has claws

That can rend?

She would be beautiful

Even

Destroying the world

Using the claws

She never knew

She had

Who bleeds for her?

She feasts on no one

Taking nothing

Only giving

Until

She's

Gone

For the world

Has reached in

To own

To consume

Each hand grasping

Each mouth pecking

And suckling

To find

And to swallow

One of the billions

Of minuscule

Pieces

Of her

My martyr

My warrior

Have I taken

A piece of you

Too?

Your blood is so rich

So sweet

So warm

I will not bleed you dry

There aren't enough pieces

Of you

Remaining

So take of me

Mother bear

Reach inside

With your rending claws

And know that you

Can take

And feast

And grasp

And suck

Every little piece

Of me