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Self-Portrait

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

i saw my face in a darkened window/
just now ghastly pale and drawn/I
stopped stunned at the death-masque
staring back at me/dubious tribute
to

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

my survival/My lips drawn taut
against my teeth/withered with the
words they had to speak/toughened
by what could no be said/
lest

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

shattering the world with the
poison of my song/i love/
Jagged scars devoid of caring/have
carved themselves a niche
above

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

my tired lips/sucking daily
deeper at the marrow of
my affections/starving to the
bone of

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

humanity is deserting me/My eyes
have only the coldness of/
charred crevasses that
no longer bleed/like

(My heart is bleeding and i/
ido not cry/i swallow)

everything else withers/They look now 
for prey/to feel what was never
given/examine each auspicious
tenderness

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

like a brightly shinig toy to
be studied then returned. That
is love
     eros
         agape
            philia
                 storge

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

the world must gain color when
love is returned/a ribbon of
energy/blade-edge bright

I only want to steal/a
single drop/that would
be enough to quench

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

my thirst/I think/
i am not real/
only a hungry shade
circling those worthier children
for meat/they who yield
not even scraps.

My heart is bleeding and i/
i swallow the blood i/
do not cry though i bleed/
i die nourished/by the meat of
my silent screams./

(My heart is bleeding and i/i
do not cry/i swallow)

copyright 1997  by Raistlin
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