I don’t need the love

you can’t give me

anything

I don’t already have

/

can’t take away

what’s not here

/

can’t forgive me

for everything

I did

in your past life

/

didn’t sit

as far back as I can

remember

/

the bus

or the train that drove

too deep into the heart

of what pains you

/

those memories

running your blood

like yo daddy

swinging from trees

with uncles who never came home

to sit and eat

with sisters and cousins

raped and betrayed

by nothing

they didn’t know about

already

/

I don’t need you

to tell me about the time

your parents stop talking to you

because

because you couldn’t handle it

could you

couldn’t conform

in

to

simple

single

box

/

neat and tidy

never hurt no one

as bad as they hurt you

when they didn’t show up

to your wedding

/

couldn’t wait till you could bury them

in their small and simple

/

you didn’t need the love

/

you didn’t need the love

unless it was the one

the lover gave

was far greater

and more exceptional

than the silences pervading

or glares

that don’t leave your memory

or mine

/

You don’t recall

but I was alive at that time

doesn’t your blood run through

like

rivers

fished in

sailed over

me

/

still you laugh

like I am as funny as

that time I fell into rosebushes

covered by the thorns in the crown of someone dead now

I made a mistake

and fell into the flowers you tended

with dedication

ruining the roses you were planning on setting

the table with

/

Well they grew back

we cut them down

stopped them from swinging

so that they could sit

and eat

with the family

that only talks about

what they know already

which doesn’t include me

so I decide to leave

because I know

/

I don’t need the love

you can’t give me anything

I don’t already have

Pᴏᴇᴍ ʙʏ ᴅ. ᴍᴏʀsᴇ/2003