Please, Love Poem by Caroline Misner

I awake each morning disappointed
that I’m still alive,

viewing you from a hanged man’s
perspective.

I’ve tucked my heart beneath a leaf
and reconsidered my objectives:

Love, I’m overwhelmed.
I feel a hostage to your demagogues.
This is not an honest respite
when I can’t tongue the words I feel.

It is illicit,
what I feel;
it is sinful,
it is a mockery of all righteousness.

So I prayed, and prayed
and prayed until my knees were raw
and blood scabbed my skin,
until I realized there is no god.

Please, love—
don’t abandon me yet.
There is still much vice to live
that I’m doomed to regret.