love peels
it impacts sharp
piercing through to wound
and crack
the wall becomes a shell
and nothing stops the hatch
that solid protection
is now in pieces

and love peels
revealing bruised fruit
before slicing deep
deep enough to oxygenate
carving a grid
like an artisanal mango

and love peels
those juicy ideal sections away
one square of meaning at a time
showing the ripe interior
crushed by that initial shock
segmented along a fault

and still love peels
scraping away pulp
battered edge
and revealing that segmented heart
where every mistake
becomes tragedy
and art is torture

and still mercilessly love peels
splitting down that fault
exposing the worst of the heart
expelling thoughts like blood
rotting every tender
guarded
wicked vein within
until that once safe whole
is unrecognizable
until destruction is preferable
to the living with this vivisecting decay

and life life life becomes new as birth
and it is so large that eyes water
fresh at nothing more than the sky
and every word is layered
deeper than graves
and in that anguished state
the splattered goo of self
must express without filter and wait

wait

wait for love's mercy
for that rare as comet in an eclipse
beauty that is love's return

and still mercifully love peels
revealing
some hardened core of diamond
unrecognizable as the self
and that core is a seed buried in hope
nourished by splattered self
defended by new walls
so both may grow
in tandem

sharing every drop of sun
until beauty and the pair
are one
and rubbish will find them
and parasites will infect
and dirt will cover life

and love peels that back too
leaving only the tree
half them and half you