Pieces

Implant in me the love you stole

From all who came before

The pieces that they gave you

Or that you took by force

I will take them all

Swallow them with pride

Lock them in my organs

Keep their legacies inside

I will serve my time

As a vessel of those parts

Holding tightly to the treasures

You brought into us

Those pieces of your past

Then when you decide to leave

You can break me open

Take the pieces of them back

Extract them from my tissues

Wherever they embed

As you gather them from me

Add my love to the lot

In whatever form you like

A piece of my heart

Or a corner of my spleen

Take whatever parts you want

Then leave me on the floor

Where I’ll exsanguinate

Bleeding from the loss

Of those bits of me you’ll take

And of all the love you gave

The pieces of the others

That you loved before

Absorbed into my system

Where they’ll become essential

To the rest of me

I hope they will be with me

For the remainder of my life

Just like you

Just like all the others

That I loved before

If the past is indication

That hope will not bear fruit

You’ll be gone someday

And what I’ve said

Will come to pass

I’ll be left a broken thing

But the possibility

The almost certainty

Is not enough of a deterrent

To keep me from accepting

Those tiny bits of others

That you’ll give me to hold

So you can pass them

To another

After my breaking day