A father's first promise is to protect their children.
You broke that promise, as you broke me.
You promised your wife that you would love and hold her dear,
You broke that promise as you broke her.
You promised, my dear, to love me tenderly.
You broke that promise as you broke me.
I promised I would come back and see you, mother.
I broke that promise as he broke you.
You promised to protect me, mother,
Like a bear.
He broke those promises you spoke,
Like a child overpowered by an ox.
I promised to love each and every one of you,
Yet you all left and abandoned me,
And broke those promises for me.
So what use is a promise?
Words breathed once and meant to be broken,
Forgotten to time and tears.
What good are they, if they leave us as shattered wisps,
Of what once was and will never be.
Why do we waste our time on empty words with no meaning,
No heart and no drive.
I loathe and hate that wretched word.
Promise.
Like a sick ichor falling from falsely sweet lips.
A mouthful of blood and bile disguised as honey.
Bloodied knuckles and smashed glass.
Promise.
I do not trust that word,
For every time it was uttered, it shattered me.
It dragged me down and burned my battered remains.
It dug me into the earth and crushed my throat and heart.
I hold no love for it,
Nor does it hold love for me.
Promise.
I hear it tease and mock me,
Belittling me for being unable to hold myself together after
Devastating loss after devastating loss.
Promise.
Yet here we are, two hopeless lovers,
Writing promises with each other.
Unspoken promises uttered with our lips,
on pale skin stretched out under the moonlight,
Caressed by firelight and cradled by furs.
We breathe our promises in our soft sighs and ecstatic cries within each others arms,
Only to be heard by each other and the moon.
Our promises are branded in our eyes,
Our looks of longing, desire, lust.
Looks of pain, mirth and reverence.
Promises scrawled in the twisting of hair and bodies,
Elegantly across the paper of our bed.
Promises we brand into each other with our touch.
I lay prone and exposed to you, and let you see
All the broken, shattered remains of promises long ago,
Yet craving to hear yours.
I promise to return to you.
I promise to love you.
I promise to go with you to the ends of time and perception.
I promise to protect you.
I promise to support and carry you.
I promise to be here when you need to cry
Or laugh.
I promise to wake up beside you each morning.
I promise to hold your hand.
I promise to be yours.
I promise…
I promise.
I promise I will return.
Little deer,
My prince.
