In Communion with Calliope #5: Phantom Limb: A Letter from Heathcliff to Cathy

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In Communion With Calliope is a weekly poetry column by Ivana Devcic.

I don’t care that you wed him,
Or that you let him tie you up,
In ribbon with a bow 
Above your display cage,
So that you might whisper niceties,
Constrained, contained,
While your heart screams like lightning
And a storm wells inside of you –
The dampness spreads across your face,
Pale to match your new lace.
Have you been outdoors?

I’ve crept along under
Your bedroom window, 
but I cannot sing to you,
I yearn to call for you,
A broken cry to tell you
We both know
He has locked you up.

Why did you let him?
You know I would break down doors,
I would burn down houses,
I would set everything alight just
So that you would be happy.

I want to see
The wicked smile on your face,
The bone-bright teeth,
In the cruel slice of mouth.

My heart is an inferno,
A raging, blue-flamed devil,
And it will not smoulder,
Not yet.

I want you back,
I need you back –
Without you 
I am only a half.

Please
Please let me in
I need you
I need you to sweep away 
The cobwebs that have grown 
In the cavernous cracks in my heart.
You are the thread that binds me,
And the coals in my fire,
And the blood in my veins,
And the shadow of my soul,
Please
I need you
Please let me in.


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