Before you, I fell

to brittle pieces I didn't shatter

Instead, cracked and splintered like

Over-taxed porcelain.

I splintered slow in fine lines

They spread from the base of my back,

Followed the sinew and muscle,

Parted my very matter

With minute hairlines.

My scream was heard by dogs

and they all came to comfort me.

But cold noses

and rough paws

broke my pieces away

Until at last I lay

Piled

Hairlines on hairlines

And pieces shifting back into place

Wobbling on rough, unglued edges.

Unreal, I was

an unfinished puzzle.

So you came and touched each line

to make me whole again.