Nguyet Mai

You sit right beside me,

yet you’re thousands of miles away

in your own head.

Scenes of how love has destroyed you

play like a movie

on repeat.

I reach out

for your hand.

You flinch.

A hot iron

to flesh.

The rejection

makes me crawl

into my own skin.

I have been here before.

The little girl inside of me

begins to wail.

She is telling me

to run,

but the woman

sitting next to you

wants to stay—

believing

that she has the capacity

to save two children

from drowning.