Ignominy

I remember standing there,
peering through the iron bars of your cell
the parched ash burrowing beneath my fingertips,
stealing rubies from the skin

You didn't stir 'till then

The scent burned through your own blood,
tossing you in your sleep
your lids opened, revealing irises once a biting beryl, now mercury

And they bored into my own
Steel nagging me into gooseflesh

You spoke then, my Cian,
with a language of your own
sharper, longer incisors muzzling your jaws,
mumbling your obvious contention

And I ran
I ran, I escaped, I fled
Whatever you needed to call it, I ran

Because you were my shame
I had fed you to the lions
And for that, I cannot be sorry enough
I'm sorry for ruining you.

-

Risin' Sun Goin' Down