he wraps cold coils around your shoulders, believing they’ll hold you safely in place
while he unravels his organs to wrap and warm your shivering bones
though they’re not shivering with cold, as they seem
let alone any cold that could be warmed by the cruel unraveling of a soul at its own merciless hands
but until the bones can cease to tremble, on and on the string is pulled
woven of sinew, muscle, pain and fear
stretching on for miles and years
the story of a life in an endless strand of flesh—
a story you must now protect.