Place your lips where your fingers once touched to cover the bruises with hickeys and the tear stains with spit.

Turn me to face the mirror and grip my face, "Tell me you love me" Let your breath fan my cheek and your words deep in under my skin to sink into my chest.

"I love you." Accept the words from my lips but know they hold no depth. Hollow like my chest and the beating of my weak heart.

My love for you has been bruised.

——