No Truce For Your Mess 

Because it’s not easy

Because I thought I could 

but changed my mind 

when my words turned 

into a paralysis of 

permanent knots 

that couldn’t be untied. 

Because it was so simple 

Because it never was to me 

Because my heartstrings 

are strangling my fight 

and there’s a white flag 

somewhere that is begging 

to feel the wind 

but it never will, it never will. 

Because the peace gets shredded 

before it can fly

Because I am the shredded cloth 

of what could have been 

Because I am too honest 

in a world that favors 

how pretty a lie can be decorated 

and feathers turn to shit 

so easily, I am sickened 

with all the wicked places here. 

Because I don’t know how to wage war 

against the battle that follows 

Because I shouldn’t have to

Because this is your mess 

and I don’t know why 

I’m still on my knees cleaning it up. 

Stephanie Bennett-Henry © 2016