Path Not Free

Path Not Free
Angela Malzow

The blood drains from my face
I taste the bitterness of disgrace
I've become a bender
A soul-twisted lender
One jagged-edged knife
Carving day lit spots from night
A flame whispering my name
All the memories call me insane
Until the bubble of flesh peaks
Making the air too hot to drink

The blood tints my cheeks
He knows where I'm weak
So he carves away at my heart
Into the morning we embark
Upon our own crumbling paths
My head hangs, I know it won't last
And the teethmarks remind me
Of where no one else can see

The blood pools at my feet
Why did we have to meet?
I played so nice, it felt so right
And I dined with your insight
There is nothing but the warm drip
Of crimson icing my lips
I've been digging blades from my back
Counting and keeping track
But there is always something
Pulse madly thumping
Rotting the roots of my tree
There is no love, the path isn't free

The blood wrote your name
And the sunrise lit it in flame
Though I will never surrender
In your eyes I see forever
But it was a lie when I felt so much truth
What's been done before, will be again by you
One rivet at a time, one bulwark complete
Isolating my brittle dreams
Away from the touch of agony
Penetrated brutally
By your midnight eyes
As hungry hands turn on lonely thighs

The path is tangled and coppery sweet
The blood infects my vision, paints the streets
This, my mind hisses, is misery
A kind of suffering that isn't free
Sing for the chaos, keep lying
Rekindle the warmth that's dying
From our eyes, from my words
Roused from a different kind of hurt

I know the destruction of wealth
A corpse dripping the rot of a former self
I melt