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Charley Says Give Me Your Heart

By Francine Witte

It is gentle,
and I want to know it.

First thought is run,
but I've been alone

so many months.
I stretch

my arms to see
if they still reach

another human being.
And they do.

Charley says
put out the light

and he swoops down
with a force

even time
doesn't have.

I'm a young girl
compared to the Earth,

and I've seen animals
shred each other's skin

in the name of hunger,
the one crime everyone forgives.

Next morning, light
tears me up like a canine tooth.

I am alone,
although Charley is here.

He turns to me,
and simply says give me your heart.

It is mine now
and later

I might
want it.