spoken in broken tongue

I take your poetry on my tongue
Constrict my airway and pace my breath
Just enough to recite
With buttery harmonics
The words your heart bled
The words your heart bled

I take your poetry on my tongue
And wish to carry some of your burden
Live for some of your lifetime
See with some of your view
Feel the pain you felt
And hear
The words your heart bled
The words your heart bled

I take your poetry on my tongue
And I apologize
I've felt the crushed bones
Of my thorax
The taste of metal from the clench of skin in my teeth
The force of those fingers prying on my skin
Scratching on my skin
With hatred
All the tools for colorful imagery
But all I could yield was grey muddiness
A muddiness
A muddy mess
Left by tears mixed in disillusionment

I hold your poetry in my tongue
I know the poetry written in this heart
Spoken in broken tongue are
The words your heart bled
The words your heart bled