For the Skeptical

(In response to Mai Der Vong)

Gabriela Roberts

From a recessed hollow Whisper, you emerge as a creature

Conceived to be restless. Depend on yourself to be crude

‘Til you find yourself alone, Isolated by the cruelty

Of your harshness and sin. You will let me know the wicked

Nature of your soul strengthened By scalding silence. But I will watch

You in the quiet, observing a Messy mindset, a self-scorched soul

You continue to criticize, judge Until you’re left broken as a scar.

Even what will wreck you Are a friend’s cherishing words.

Even to caress your rough edges In quiet rooms. I know about

Your recipe of pain, your gouging Ways. Yet trust me to love you.