My Llorona

You started small.

A kindling.

Just enough warmth to keep us alive,

enough to rub,

our hands together.

Cold comfort.

used to

love

oblivion

floating

far above any care

feet dangling

over the fire

your gaze

burned into

the back of

sewn shut eyelids

In later years,

You were volatile.

Scalding blisters

from a boiling pan.

i am not owned

by you

playing your puppets

when it strikes your fancy

wrecking ball precision

when things don’t

go your way

used to

feel

obsession

too late to

fold myself

into your plans

each i love you

came with strings attached

Waiting to feed on oxygen

You claimed was your own.

Now the remnant sting

Of smoke

In sore eyes.

Black ash on the floor.

Footprints wiped clean.

I fear your flame.

Let me go.

i have learned now what it means

to be loved

used to

believe

in oblivion

until

the fire

let me go

i see you so clearly now

I let you go

You cannot smoulder

without my breath.

You cannot survive.

I look at the stars,

and exhale.