QueerBlogWed: Contradiction

On December 13, 2023, P.T. Wyant posted at ptwyant.com a Wednesday Words prompt involving a regretted favor, soup, and a contradiction.

This poem was the result…

I regret the favor I owe you

For bringing me some soup

For staying at my side

You’re quite the contradiction

Of cruelty and kindness

I’ve felt the bite of your sadistic humor

All the while displaying a covert kindness

You’re feeding me soup in my current condition

When everyone else has left me

I know you’ll remind me of this favor

When I’m strong and healthy

When I’m in a position to be of use to you

It’s always about how useful I am 

Yet that’s not the entire truth

My weakness awakens compassion in you

Just as my strength makes you want to crush me

You like keeping me dependent upon you

Even as you chastise me for my weakness

You never chastise me when I’m ill

Sickness is a time of rare gentleness

When you breathe health back into me

Before breaking me into pieces

A puzzle you assemble and reassemble

For you love recreating me in your image

Toying with my expectations as you do

Reveling in the contradition you present

As you keep me close to you.