...on a Soul in Need

Sweet baby

I can’t marry you

‘Cause I can’t carry you

I can’t be with you

‘Cause I can’t be free with you

I can’t be in love with you

Because love is not between

The possessor and the possessed

Love does not give you the authority

To suck all the light from me

As if an insatiable black hole of you need

I cannot swaddle you and coddle you

Like a mother who has to feed

Sweet baby

I cannot adore you the way you crave

To be doted upon and waited upon

Scrapes bandaged and booboos kissed

Bellies rubbed, monsters obliterated

To shine my radiance upon your frigid world

Nearly 24 hours a day

To be dazzled by your talents (or lack thereof)

To be the everything that you won’t

Who gives you the authority

To question my whereabouts, to disrespect my comrades

To expect me to keep your temple

And to expect consequences when I don’t

Sweet Baby

I cannot give you anything

Because I am lacking, confused, and in need of

Because I am hurting, distrusting,

And grown