I sing my pages to sleep
ruffle their hair with my breath
Shh
I will never wash their blood clean
They bruise into my veins
I will water them down and leave them on my skin
oh, the joy
I will welt them into my skin
I will black my eyes and blue my bones
fragile bird feathers
I will etch them into my skin
and bleed them out again
Draw with their wet hair on my pages
They will be imprinted on my cheek when I fall asleep
I will forget them when I wake up
I will trace wrinkles onto my eyes
You will age me (they crease my fingers)
(the scars are burnt into my fingers)
I will cry tears that fill the rivers with blood
It will taste like ink on my tongue
it will shine there and burn