The Angel I Set Upon My Shelf

Something in the way he talks unravels the knots.

The ones that twist up my thoughts.

Store feelings the wrong files.

I lay on the cold bathroom tiles.

When I wake, he’s still there smiling.

Once I thought, my heart distraught

That not a one would find my soul beguiling.

But as I curled into the hole I dug myself,

I saw the angel I had set upon my shelf.

Minerva Violet