You wear a crooked smile
chilling in the sunshine over tea
to hide the demon in your lies,
rapidly batting your lashes
over your green eyes.

I sat a distance away, watching.
I bit my tongue, trying not to speak,
drawing a faint taste of blood,
through ties that bind without
a hint of goodbye, sipping tea til midnight.

Lust is faint for a heart bearing
the scars of fate.
My eyes sting with the regret of
moments left undefined.

Tears, I shed none.
With a tight-lipped smile,
I act out a caricature of myself,
someone, anyone
to be the one you want of me.

After sweaty sex,
you whisper never to change,
but to stick around,
and you’ll keep me in line.