In word and deed
I swore my fealty,
took the knee
and wore the ring.
And yet it
stopped not
your cruelty
to me
and everything
I held to be true
of love and loyalty,
valor and fidelity.
And so I withdrew
when love’s pale pallor
found no reciprocity.
I went inward indeed,
and have emerged as
something more,
just less
the burden of you.
No need
to carry on
the carrion
of love.
Beyond Panic 