CROCODILE TEARS

Her tears are fake, she said, and I wept a little harder.

I raised my voice a little louder,

let my gaze pierce a little deeper,

Stayed up all night, curled on the bathroom floor, muffling my cries—

surely, they should hear me now.

______

Look beyond the veil,

beyond the facade of allure,

the skin and sinew crudely tethered to my being.

Surely, they should see me now—

in spite of beauty.

_____

But with every call,

I was pushed further away.

Now, I sink into the waters,

the overflow of life,

head still bowed,

the hollows of my chest filling with tears.

____

Yet still, I rise—

distorted, hideous—

because this is all they’ve ever seen:

crocodile tears.