Not Today 

By these words I build the walls that makes you less 
By these words I diminish you, bit by bit, line by line 
By necessity I craft a tomb in which you are small and distant 
By necessity I make smaller the brightness of your flame 

Not today. 

Not. Today. 

I refuse to lay the next stone that will block your light 
I refuse to look away from that blinding flame, so bright 
I stare into you wholeheartedly one more time 
I let your warmth fleck and burn the skin on my face 

Let this bright corona linger for every day it can 
Let it stay burnt into my retina for the rest of my life 
Let it be said that I was never unwilling or unable 
To burn in the sun until all my skin and bones were ash 
Perhaps it was all flights of fancy and unhealed wounds 
Perhaps it was all a fantasy that couldn’t live under scrutiny 

But not today. 

Today you burned me away one more time. 


I throw that final stone into the river.