After All: Vulnerability On The Flesh

For a creature
so battered
so backed into a corner
so skeptical of all occasions
to drop his shield
to remove his armor and disrobe completely
allowing his sores and soreness to be seen
by a one-time cage-closing visitor from the past
is nothing short of radical.

You always knew there was nothing that could keep me
and nothing that could ever keep me away.

Oh that I were a miracle worker,
one anointed with a healing touch,
or elixir breath,
powerful enough
to make them disappear.

But I am not
so I simply thank you for showing yourself
after all this time
in all your shame
after all the hurt between us.

I simply thank you for showing yourself
regardless of the impossibility of cure
by this love that once tried
over and again
to fix every untouchable wound

but couldn't, after all.