Silence latches on
To the ends of half-finished sentences
Eyes dart towards the ground,
Lips fumble to remedy
The gap a locked gaze would wordlessly reveal
This pause
Another second would strangle us both
Ticking, ticking, ticking,
The clock chimes menacingly
Winds fade to whisper as distance creeps in
Ensnaring, encircling,
He snakes in quietly
’Til mouths turn to stone
And tongues taste resentment
Did I say too much?
Did I do something wrong?
Tell me what I said. Tell me what went wrong.
The marble hardens,
The talons sharpen,
The hush encases us in cold, shiny armour
Insidious and snarling,
He growls and he grows
Your name now a set of senseless sounds
Your face now an alien alignment
Why won’t you say anything?
Why won’t you do anything?
Why don’t you care?
Eyes meet, instinct
Our defeated gazes loudly confess
Those exhausted eyes too tired to dart
Parched throats too worn to protest
What happened?
Why can’t we stop this?
Why don’t you care?
Finally, the clock strikes its last hour
The ticking stops,
The silence speaks
Everything here lies unsettled,
Unsolved
And so I retreat
Just say something, anything!
Do you even care?
Why don’t you care?
Did you ever even care?
With a sole, clean swipe,
Warmth returns to my veins
Tingling, violent
Frozen fingers come unstuck
The blood has been cleared,
I flee without defeat
And in my armour I lie,
I will not wait for you to speak.