The Understanding of the Dragon and the Dolorosa

Third in a series of 3(.5).

Around my prize      is  strung

Beautiful

   A beautiful collar of roses

   Beautiful roses

Digging into      her         throat

An artful bouquet, my martyr, with her very own

Crown of

F*****g thorns.

And I shudder to think what might have happened

If I hadn’t been there first.

Because I’m a monster, sweetheart

      (Sweetheart, sunshine--

“You know I love you, right?”)

With spikes and fire and claws caked in

Red mud. But I’m not nearly as grotesque as some

Others.

(Others who will never, ever see you again, my love.)

And in my lucid moments, I wonder

If you even realize what’s happening.

(And in my other moments,

I don’t care.)

But I know I can keep you here comfortable

“If you’ll only let me, love--just let me--”

Sprawled out on the linoleum,

Handcuffed to the sink,

Resting your battered head on the pillows I arranged so carefully

In the bathtub.

Bleeding out rubies, that soft light of yours going

Down

The

Drain.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think! :)