Mugshot Eyes
Free Verse Poem
When I think I might forgive you, I look again at that photo from the night they took you in …
Blue eyes swallowed by black; a darkness so wide it could drown a conscience.
I remember the stillness right before you struck and how mercy was suggested, sharp as the hand wrapped around my throat.
You said killing me would be nothing, and I believed you.
Every time I forget the weight of your rage… or wonder if you’re still breathing, I go back to that picture.
Your face reminds me what survival costs and how many times I’ve paid it.
That mugshot saves me again and again from dialing the ghost of a man who taught me how to stay alive by detaching…
And putting one foot in front of the other until there was nothing but peace and safety on the horizon.
