Multifaceted portraits printed
Past these musty rooms.
Tension so thick it chokes,
Dust so deep it paints your face.

(Like the mask you wear around me.)

Nameless creatures crawl,
Bite at your ankles and
Skitter away.
(The kind you used to talk to late at night
And pretend that they cared.)

False truths and true falsities,
Meanings as gauze that shreds apart.
(Dress your wounds with it
And walk as if there is no limp.)
And as shards of your lips sprinkle the pavement,
Expect the sound, “I told you so.”