Animosity and admiration run through my veins – together 

a braided string of crimson and gold. 

If you love me, my strings tie cordially 

around your wrist. 

Not just a bracelet of

red and gold. No, 

a bracelet of every Color, 

of every part of me.

Of deep forest green,

Of honeycomb gold,

Of midnight blue.

My thoughts, my laughs, my cries. 

I give them all to you. You

who has my bracelet. You 

who knows me best.

But intimacy is a knife. 

With your love you

tear my bracelet off.

Unbeknownst to you,

my bracelet can be explosive.

Colors ooze and leach out the string, 

staining your skin. 

A repugnant touch,

my colors burn and claw 

at your soul. I, too, 

do not leave unscathed. 

Did you know I 

wove my heart within 

those strings? – the ones

I gifted to you.