No Chest Can Bind

I went away from you, heart of mine
I travelled the spice routes
Gathering scented cloths and pearls
To drape upon your naked skin.

I was not there to warn him off
He charmed your loneliness
With the music of laughter and kindness
Your head was turned; he leaked in.

A storm ripped me out at the route
And, late, you watched concerned
And cried to sleep upon his shoulder
Waking in the milk and bronze of dawn.

Across the jealous deserts and rolling hours
I clawed at continents to reach you...
Staggered, starved and broken
Fuelling my will on your imagined kisses.

I fell upon your step and he came to your door
Brushed me away like a mildew
As though I had sweated from the stone
And infected your life.

There, in the window, I watched him light lamps
You used to guide me home
And as I raged to the gutter-rats
You drew the curtains closed. Light was lost.

If love can swell the heart then jealousy can burst it
I paced a hateful path, back and forth,
Fevered in my sleepless halls
Until, green eyes red, I could wait no more.

Out of his head I shot
The knowledge that you were mine
You shrieked with love and fear
As my face was followed by my fury.

What he has taken I cannot win back
I saw this swimming in her altered eye.
And then I held her from behind,
Our arms entwined
Her head resting softly on my neck
Two hollow hearts, limbs limp in defeat
She sighed, counted stars and touched my fingers
As the other hand raised the pistol.

One shot, two hearts.
One fluttered to its rest
One jealous heart already dead
A treasure love but plundered from this chest.