After the prongs of honesty

I threw and you returned,

Pierced our white, underbelly flesh,

We sat in silence as the clock we never hear

Tick-tocked its way to the next moment.

Earlier I had decided to let frankness tumble from my lips

Instead of the routine, dry retreat of truth down

The back of my throat to halt conflict.

My belly bloated from the thorny spikes of unsaid things,

I had no choice.

It’s in my DNA,

That need to appease.

Fired off in my synapses

At the first, pungent whiff of relational decay.

Today, it needed a new pathway.

Afterwards, you retreated to the bedroom

Like a small sparrow,

Wounded by a cat with long claws.

I sat alone in the darkened living room,

The house cat behind the bush licking her paws clean.

Not because I was satisfied with the bitter meal,

But because I had done what should come naturally.

Featured Image by Monica Silvestre @ Pexels