hunted

we walked around mountain tops

we stood at the edge of the world

i didn’t hold your hand

i grasped at the life I could see but never feel

i was tasting it

you were there

maybe you were somewhere else

it didn’t matter to me after a while

i was a hunter

i was hungry

i had my bow and arrow

i had aim

i walked on mountain tops

i stood at the edge of the world

i was scared

i was hopeful

i couldn’t go back

one giant leap in front of the other

limbs scared stiff

we smelled of red dirt

and hot sun

we wore the earth on our faces

and heaviness in our hearts

narcissism doesn’t have tact

doesn’t pay attention to social cues

there’s never a good time to be emotionally unstable 

empty canyons

filed up with overlapping disappointment 

wiser now

you don’t offer up how you’ve been

you don’t ask about me

still walking through ice cold rivers

unmarked trails

i still have too much compassion for you

couldn’t get out of our own way

better at mapping out the roads we never should have traveled

masters of web making

technicians of blame

our fingers always pointing in the wrong direction

we knew where we were going 

we never had the courage to say it out loud

can we say it now

i was always up there

looking down

watching like a hawk

i was a hunter

you, an impersonator 

both of us screaming for silence

i was waiting

for peace

for defeat

a discoverer 

i had it in me

i just didn’t want to use it