17. MASQUERADE BALL
So this is how the memories of one event turn smile to scowl.
When will you see the truth, and set the boundaries loose?
The fading grime of your past-time
is etched in stone from your heart's cold.
The shivers sent from me to you will finally witness you unglued,
and shyness is an empty space
that crawled beneath your resting place.
It eats away at everything we've seen.

So this is why the aftershock of love's revenge
blinds the sharpest eye.
How will you find the step, and breathe the tears we wept?
The staging scene of your weekend fling
is set in print from my word's last glimpse.
The courage left to die alone
could rise again to heal the soul.
And weakness is a made-up phrase
that pushes you out of your place.
It carries me before I finally fall.

Nobody felt the chill of triumph's gratitude fallen on your shout.
Can you forget my life and deny our compromise?
The shading black of your first night back
will never cease to haunt your dreams.
You'll long embrace but taste disgrace;
my caring touch would prove too much.
Forgiveness is a wasted breath
you felt when you missed my laugh.
Solitary pity has redeemed itself again.