for Matthew
I didn’t know that life could cut like this,
Razor-sharp and unreasonable:
A shot going off in a young mind,
No-one there to comfort the tormented.
I didn’t realise I could bleed through tears,
Painful and searing,
Burning into veins of water
The fire quenched in wrenching spasms.
I always thought life knew our paths,
And passed over those with lamb’s blood
On their doors, but now
It seems that human blood is different —
Death’s angels disregard the good and the bad
I didn’t realise we would cry so soon.