Men

You'd forgotten, hadn't you?

That they are flesh,

That they scar and burn and bleed -

as we do.

They seem so strong, for so long, can cause so much,

longing, tears, frustrating, indecisive, conflicting anguish, 3:00 in the morning, naked outside your room and calling.

                                          pain.

But we can do it too,

lock them out of our hearts with as litttle care,

with diminished opinions and defensive believing,

that we don't want to hurt them,

That you don't want to hurt him.

But you do.

And all you asked for was the truth

All you wanted was that -

and now you don't answer his calls

because you haven't finished stitching all the lies together

into a quilt,

that kept you cold before.

And you know it, 

Know how to break a heart now, 

How to stop its persistant loyalty - I mean - He did it to you so well, 

and now you pay it forward. 

Like you swore you never would, 

like you achingly vowed you never could, 

and the selfish thing is what you do

-protect yourself

You can never rely on a cold quilted lie to do it for you.