Shortcut to love

In love with the idea of being in love
She prayed on my head
Tying a string between us
A ring around my neck
And the other on her finger
The magic trick of a marionette I endured
With good humor
While she worked out the kinks
Of her spell

And waiting patiently for the trick
It never occurred to me that it was I
How do you keep a fool in suspense?
Make him your consort

And though already made
I was made over
With spells spoken under me
        Moans of hope
        Promises that would keep in fertile soil
        Broken in the darkness of barren caves
Which offered only echoes of my own petitions
For reciprocity
Mocking me
But never freeing me from anticipation

She exploited my exceptional attention
To service
By making me her servant
And rendering me common

Leading me to the slaughter with a smile
And I was struck dumb by her beautiful mask
Disoriented by misplaced faith
Stayed like a dog leashed to a pole
Waiting while the wind sucked my life away

Losing my hair, my teeth, my sight
And getting fat in my arrested state
Held captive by the drug of a dream

Dying the death of a thousand cuts
By allowing her a shortcut to me.

©1.19.17 ebn