him - and you...

you have seen my naked heart

clad only in the sins of my past

remnants of the devil's lambaste

and you turned away not

you have tasted the dark green bile

spit from the belly of my severed soul

splotches of satan's soiree

and it reviled you not

you have borne witness to the atrocities

acted against the innocents by my dark twin

leaving the pieces to be buried again

and it frightened you not

you have felt the screams of my victims

wrenched from the hollow of my own heart

slivers of silent offenses

and you shrank back not

and he

he who has lived the golden life

who has never slept with the slick black steel

he would forgive me

and love me still

     but he would know me not

but you

you have walked the shadow streets

streets worn by my footprints

you would see no need to forgive

and would love me still

you would love me then in all my sins

     you would know me now

even then