There is a greed inside of me
an apparition that feeds on pity—
a desperation that would so casually consign you
to the same misery
just so I would not be alone.

A selfishness that would entwine a piece of me
so tightly along your threads
that I could never be unstitched
from the seams of your patchwork,
knowing that I could never relieve you of that burden,
never be more than an incessant itch
beneath your soul.

Because in the quiet of dark, I sink
into the horrible truth, like I am
swallowed up with the light-
I will always love you,
but never love you again.

This unbearable knot,
assuaged only by the vilest condolences—
the thought that somewhere,
you are being swallowed up too.