I wanted to clean your apartment
Wanted to surprise you
Finding homes for misplaced papers
Dusting between the books I’d given you
And there it was
Lying where hundreds of others had fallen
Tangled up
Trailing off
Into the dense confusion of your rug
It gleamed with a defiance
I found it  ridiculously dramatic
A yellow cord of betrayal
Forcing me to remember when I had dyed my hair last
3 months ago
Black
You said you liked it
A wave of sickness slammed into me
Faces swam through my head
Names twisted on my tongue
I backed into a corner
And kicked up the frenzy
It chased me through the forest of dust
And landed on my knee
Curling into a smile
That seemed to recognize my fear