Three very old poems.

Love is Brutal. Jealous eyes and gasping heart anticipate downfall to start backing out now would be smart; avoid impending pain. Love is Futile. oversold and overrated embers destined to go faded ecstacy is surely fated to become disdain. Love Proves Fatal. short of breath, I can't stop bleeding what once was yours, no longer beating life is flickering and fleeting down the bathtub drain.

-Valentines and fire trucks; sunsets and war, both sides of this razor and both people in this mirror. -Roses and romance; my lips and my hair, and my unhealed wounds inspired by and forever reminding me of the intimacy that will never be. Again. -Passion and murder; beauty and death, and pain that surpasses the simple capacity of the nerve endings in my tangible flesh. -Love and hate. The love I need from you, and the hate I reserve for myself, and all the blurred and liquid Emotions that drip so delicately from Inside. And the Lust I can't resist And the regret that will persist No matter how much thick, beautiful color I wash over my wrist.

-Red is

Cause of Death

"This one is an interesting case," I addressed the group As you see in the slide, she looks normal outside But when the procedure got under way, we realized Her affliction was unique. We made the cranial incision, and pulled apart the skull. We then noticed that the brain had been eaten away By some degenerative disease. It had devoured all but the brain stem, and looked as though It had tortured her for years. "It must have been terrible," one colleague observed, "having your mind Rotting away every day from corroding memories and false hope." "Yes," I confirmed, "this could be our cause of death." Curiouser still, upon separating the ribs, we discovered that her chest cavity Was lined with some sort of Tar-like Substance, Mostly surrounding the Heart. It was thick, cold, and black and it stuck to our gloves. "It must have hurt." a doctor stated. "It looks as though she tried to scrape it off With razorblades, or dissolve it with smiles or Love, But it kept growing back." "Yes," I concurred, "this is what might have killed her." The strangest of all was found as we continued the Y downward. Upon opening the abdomen, we were astonished to see that there was Nothing inside. She was completely empty. Not a stomach, Kidney, spleen, friend, Soul or dream was found in that cavern "It must have been hard," he whispered, "trying to go on when you're so empty inside." "Yes," I said, "perhaps this is what made her die." "And so," I told the students, "with all of her amassed ailments, I decided Jane Doe C33's COD to be listed Unknown. We aren't quite sure what happened to her, or when it was contracted. All we know is that something awful usurped this girl's mind and body, Taking from her until there was nothing left to hurt, And she died." "So log this one away in your notes, in the event this becomes an epidemic. An interesting one, indeed …Now, on to the next case for study."