...For I Am No Longer There...... Poem by RIC BASTASA

if you read
this
you must disown
me

you must throw
this
and take back
what i
was

you have your
own
idea about what
i must be

what i should
become
and what happens
next is
the way you choke
me to death

you keep that
stuffed toy
as me
pleasing inside
your
glass cage

when you go back
to the house
where i live
when you open the
door
and switch on the
light

the night will be
perfectly empty
for i am no longer there.