"The Wages"

"The Wages" 

Wire barbed
and my thighs are scarred
and my skin is scored
and the open pores
mark a thirst for more.
Torn through flesh
to a solid core.
I am violent more
than I was before.
Keeping score?
Liked me less
when I would talk more
but loved me best
when I could not best
though I would resist
and you could desist
but you would not cease
so I tend to wounds
and I seal each crease.
Before I heal soon,
you would steal my peace. 

You don't have the room.
Nothing in the least.
Time I would not lease
So let me speak my piece.

My only demand
is that you understand
before you rake my hand. 

I spent the best days of my life
looking for the right people.
To be truly honest,
I really don't think I like people.
Unlike people,
I don't square off in an instance
for a problem better solved
beyond proximity and distance. 

So you wonder why I climb high;
sliding through the sharp.
Not for rainbows, milk and honey
or an angel with a harp.
They will see me mortified.
Teardrops dangling from their eyes
at the view of hanging flesh
in lieu of covet in distress.
Dress this scene.
Press it clean.
Pull the remnants from my dreams.
Nothing left of the obscene.
Every rung a truth unseen.
Secrets stashed upon this ladder.
The latter I've fancied created.
Wished for ways to make it
easier to vault
without impedance and halt.
Metal burning scabs like salt.
You learned nothing from your fault 

but I have earned today
regardless of what you will realize

and my eyes are fixed
on these jagged,crumbling bricks
that break and crack
before they fall.
Watch me crawl
if your heart will allow
as I hang from it all
and you aim to stall
the journey that will surely
claim you as next to embark.
Destined to rise from the dark
since sandcastles in the park

but this climb won't end until we start. 



Written By: Devin Joseph Metz