Fingers

his hands still stained red
as he ran south
looking for the sky to open up
or the ground to suck him in.

her last words,
"I've missed you,"
could have never been enough
to hold back any pure jealousy.

he held her with the hand that read HATE
and hit her with LOVE
he hit her with love
he hit her
he held her
and he hit her.

Loveless and lifeless
she fell to the floor
as the blood ran down his hands
along the knuckles on his fingers
to his fingertips and off
dripping to the floor
with her.

there was just no beauty
left in her face
and he wasn't sorry for making it worse.

he didn't realize he had carried her this far,
all the way south,
until he noticed his fingernails still stained.
she tried to hide underneath
but he scraped her out
or what was left
and swallowed her down.

ran down and brought in
days later
his only excuse,
"Love and hate can be tied too closely for a simple man."
as he bit at his fingernails.