Elisabeth Horan’s most recent poem to appear here was “Simile Free” (October 2017).

Never Shall we Fall Asunder
By Elisabeth Horan

I finally know what to say.
I’m so scared but I’ll say it anyway—
I love you.
I love your scars—
the horrid steel cage jaws
the messy mental health
the pills
the tries
the fails
the hospital bars—
ECT?  Sure, bring it on.
Nothing can shock me out of this one.

The words that fall out in your lap
that ones you can’t ever take back
they are the wounds, the dreams;
they are precious, golden rings in caves—

I am the maker of such translucent gems
like ruby lips, like amethyst veins,
I give you my words: my run-ons, my verbs,
to hold in your mouth like fish eggs—
It’s nothing new this fear
but what’s fresh
this iridescent trust
this lack of awareness
like being 22
this losing of my skin
like strip poker
like walking topless on a bar
letting you see
my breasts, my thighs
my insecurities.
This monster I call me
you’ll have to love her
you’ll have to consume her—
she is an inpatient here too.

This is not the type of marriage love—
marriage is nothing but a black hole of
Honey Dos and Honey Don’ts
it’s a drag—

This type is to say I do
in death, not ‘till death—

There are no Don’ts
beneath tombstones
the vows are our epitaphs;
trust me—it’s so much safer this way
when we have nothing left
but our flesh to lose:
Here lies you and me,
we gave each other everything
swallowed oaths with
nothing more than water—

Say it with me now:
I promise to take your pain, your fevers
if you promise to take of mine
so never shall we fall asunder
nor our hearts be torn apart in kind.