7.28.2023 - Blackened Bruised Broken

7.28.2023
Blackened Bruised Broken

These hands I hold before me,
Stygian, shattered, and stained,
Have never been too honest,
Have never been restrained.
They batter doors to splinters,
They lie, and steal, and cheat.
You may think that’s impossible,
Of a man so tidy and neat.
If only the fire could cleanse the sins,
Contained within the flesh,
The fire that caressed them,
Would be worth the flames enmeshed.
I beat my breast and cursed the sky,
That saw entire what is not spoken.
You never question or wonder or cry,
You lie blackened, bruised, and broken.