poem

 Broken

You can wipe that smirk off your face

I am not amused

There’s nothing you can do

To damage me anymore

I can’t be re-broken

My bones have all been shattered,

Plated and fused.  It’s too late.

Even my flesh has been thoroughly

Threshed, beaten and bruised.

There’s nothing you can do

That I haven’t already had done.

I’m scarred so thick

Everything you strike is numb.

More hide than skin

And don’t you dare try to be soft

Either, after all this time,

With your soothing words of flattery

Your small hands’ caress.  

It’s too late for all that, and cruel  

To attack with loving tenderness now.

I can’t feel even if it could get in.  

1/4/22