Swamp Monster

I know.
I have always known.
The way the mountains loom
Over your shoulders
Was the great tip-off.

You have been holding my head under
Water for months, waiting for me to surrender
As my hair turns soft, then cold.
Feel it cling to the spaces between your fingers.

You work at filling my pockets
And socks with smooth stones.
How easily they slip in and appear harmless,
Oh but they feel like thunder.

The vertebrae in my spine knock against each other in the brawl.
What is it you get out of seeing my soggy lungs?

I found a way to float, you thought I had sunk.
You dreamt you could keep me shoved down in that ashen water.

There is too much sorrow that cannot be drowned.
It refuses to go,
But I still can.
And I will pick the leeches from my legs as i leave the water's edge
And let the twilight swallow me whole.

I should be writing a paper but i wrote this instead.

Trust has yanked the trip rope
With the groan of milky eyes
And the stab of the failures of those before.

You have worn me thin through the
Thick of things.
The burn leaves a scar that some will see
And others will brush against.

They say things like a you and an I should
"Stand the test of time"
But time is a curious soul
And you do not stand still long enough.

I hope you know that I would have given you
The sighs in my chest.
It's a shame you didn't have the hands to hold them.
I can feel their absence.

Tears cannot be seen in the snow
Yet blood does not go unnoticed
And I have been bleeding and freezing
As the sun rotates.

Sorry.

Such fragile things you gave me.
A paper crane
And a robin's egg
With delicacy laid at my feet.
Feet belonging to an iron giant.
Clumsy and cold.
I do not always see just what it is
That I am doing.
Only what I have done.
I am broken.
And I am mistaken.
How far I've fallen, deep and fast.
A junkyard at the bottom of a cliff.
So keep the bird in your heart,
Because tin men like me
Should not be trusted
With such treasures.