Love Poem: Damage
Toni Orban Avatar
Written by: Toni Orban

Damage

I tell you that love happened first,
In order
In that order— which is to be opened,
Flayed the heart that at first flinched 
When the soul would blench at the sound of your voice 
That once was love, turned destroyer,
You ask me if it was the chicken or the egg?
I can’t say, I know my heart quivering beating jelly pulpy thing 
Would bet on the egg.
I know that heart then liquefies and pours itself out in a massive
torrential hemorrhage 
Painting the pathway crimson 
Congeals reconstitutes and reassembles into bricks,
That creates a wall that I place neatly back in my chest.