(no subject)

augh sleep what.

[Adjective] Badges

You treat your scars like tattoos:
I got this one at a circus in Canberra
this was for a girl I used to know
this from the first ship I ever loved
and that one, it’s a complicated story…
and you settle in to tell.
Where is the shame, I wonder
for the weaknesses written on the skin
everyone you took a knife for
every mistake you ever made?

How do you sit and soak up sun
shoulders bare and collarbones
skin scorching pink between the pale?

(I could trace each and every line
so easily – stand out so clear
and the worst part is, you’d let me
explaining every nick and shine
for everyone to hear)

Did no one teach you how to hide
all the ugliness that’s left you
laughing on the deck, eye streaming mirth?

When did you miss the lessons on perfection
on pretending that it all came fast as breathing
on never admitting that you weren’t strong enough
to do anything more than just survive?

Why don’t you know that you’re supposed to be ashamed?