THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

To the thorns penetrating deeper into your skin

Anything but repellent to the oozing scars of your kith & kin;

Ohh heart throb! Have wounds ever healed without a tinge of delicate touch?

To the beating heart you say is numb

Have you ever witnessed,

Surviving at the mercy of blood, warm and ready to take the plunge?

O darling! All you ever did was lie

As your skin shone to the bright sunlit sky

The rainbow you owe the flicker of your smile to

The heart wrenching music you let your veins seep into

The seamlessly unbending values you tend to get inclined to

Aren't you the height of audacity so afraid to regard human vulnerability?

Might I not want to see the good in you

But, in the name of the love we shared as nyctophiles

Will you answer me one last time?

If it was forbidden to ache at the sound of my voice

To bleed involuntarily at the menacing high note

Carrying a glimpse of my sight

Would you have your soul coerced into doing away with my memories every day and night?

I may know what you're hesitant to say

In hopes of protecting the which is 'shattering'

Profoundly safer within 'matters of grey'

Lest a fraction of thy magnitude causes the holy breath to shake

All deception is forgiven, my love!

As foretells a promise I hereby make!