My Inferno

I thought of you today,
The old times, the way
You steeped in frustration
At my many limitations.
If you cared, I wasn’t sure,
But I knew you’d need more
So bothered by my lack,
The unseemly attacks
You refused to see.
In some ways you punished me
For who I couldn’t be.

I’ve thought of you recently
Conducting yourself so decently
While I lived on the fringe.
I must have been unhinged
To fall in love with you.
A girl like me would never do,
Never blend into your world.
I wore my sins, my flag unfurled,
Against the backdrop of your pedigree.
I was your purgatory.
You were my paradise.