Story is marked as mature

My friend deserves much better; still, he clings,

Against all warnings, to that bastard's love,

And whether feighted or genuine, it brings

Destruction. Now the demon's poised shove

-

Its victim from the precipice! Oh, now,

He's lost his balance, inches fr…

I'm edging closer daily to despair

From which, I doubt I ever can escape.

I brood on all the times I wasn't there

When he was suffering cruelty and rape

-

I'd never known, 'til later, how unfair

His lover's treatment was--how mean, how vicious.

My friend …

A hermit crab's a humble, helpless creature

That borrows others' armor as it grows

It's fragile, having no protective feature,

And makes an easy victim, as it knows.

-

And worse than that, this poor, vulnerable chap

At times, in moments desperate and scar…

You know that words can hurt

Even more than a stick or a stone.

A pen destroys more than a sword

A doctor’s care I can’t afford

But there’s safety in staying alert;

Still more, in life alone.

I see where I went wrong;

I’m uncertain what I should have don…

A brittle, dessicated kind of life

That has been weakened outdoors in the sun

Near deafened by the cannon, drum, and fife;

A throat that’s silent, now the screaming’s done.

This is my life, my body, after you.

You pushed me to exceed my own ability.

My b…