Never Let Me Go

(Photo by Randy Jacob on Unsplash)

Tell me once, and then tell me again

how you aren’t ever going to let me go.

Etch it into my soul and onto my skin

darling so that I may forever know.

Explaining to you the pull of this beast,

mixed with my guilt and shame and painful past

only adds fuel to my fear you will leave

Nervously, I watch you take a step back.

Do I dare tell you how close I have come?

Alone with the thoughts that highlight my flaws,

now neurotic nightmares play like reruns,

chronic chaos that I can’t seem to stop.

Exposed and afraid, I study your face

searching for a sign that we’ll be okay.