In Ink Please

Rick Allen

In Ink Please


I'll take back the things I said if you'll take back the things you didn't
You took everything I had, but I do not begrudge you that
It's more, it's more than what you sold.
It's more, it's more than what you did or didn't say
It's what you gave away
you gave away
like it didn't mean a thing
Take off that ring
It hurts to see you wear it.

I still feel you like a phantom limb that nobody can see.
When I say, "you're always with me," what I mean is:
"you're attached to me. every socket, shoulder to the knee. come back to me."
As the months go by, I realize: it's more like a phantom rest-of-me.
Half gone and fading
Since the day the world stopped where I stood.
Are you gone for good, gone for good?

Did you feel guilty for scheming while I laid beside you dreaming,
fast asleep of future plans?
Unaware of trecherous hands
Oh, my sweet snake on its belly in the green, green growing grass:
You were bold
You were brash
You were completely unabashed
And now the course has changed so entirely.
I am so far from where I wanted to be.