Mother's

Mother’s grueling incisors

Crueling ‘cross my bones

Bearing crosses beside our homes

Leaving gouges in their wake.

A thousand, thousand tears

Make up a single laugh:

My cross to bear, my dear.

As they calcify my fear, my dear,

I am left bereft with no one left,

And I can only cry,

“What humor have I left

in here with no one left to hear?”

As whispers whisper

Inside of here

In sight of her, my dear,

Looking on and loping ‘long

A ways away from wayward sons

As far and away from here

As she would dare, my fear.

Their whispers glister

Ever after, after ever

Never closer than this, my seer,

Always louder than a hiss, my dear

Just a touch, a breath

Without much else, and nothing less

But just a kiss beside my ear.

And all I hear

Are honeyed words

Licked and cleaned

By her love’s death

And all that’s left

Is no one’s best

Within this padded room, I bear.