Poem 9: The Return

You return with marshmallow eyes
— soft and gooey with love

But my heart remembers
The heat of your touch
The toxic grasp of your tongue

You return to the cycle

Loves morphs into hate
Kindness to abrasion
Sweet whispers to rage

You hold a new book
With the same old story
Written on every page

An unbroken circle
A hamster’s wheel
And death’s purposeful gaze