Sacrifice: A Work in Progress

(This poem is a bit of a work in progress. Bear with me please while this poem undergoes massive reconstructive surgery.

Sacrifice

Be careful when you sacrifice yourself to another.

You just might discover the raging flames

beneath you are hotter than you expected.

Ever read the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac?

It's almost the same thing except that,

unlike Isaac, you desire to be stacked upon the pillars,

placed on the wooden tinder by those

whom you love.

And the flames are hot, let me assure you.

They burn like fire on a desert night,

sending the very best pieces of you

glittering into the dark.

Be careful when you sacrifice yourself to another.

You just might find you lose more blood

than you thought after chopping off your arm.

It's even harder, mind you, to cut off

the other once the first is dead and gone.

Only give the parts you know you can lose,

like the pinky toe that was deformed

from birth.

But those are never the parts you give.

You give your esophagus and the power

to speak; you give your back and the

strength to stand.

You give your liver and kidneys and spleen,

leaving you exposed to poisons that denigrate

and degenerate your former vitality.

And you give your vitality too,

and your allegiances, your thoughts,

and your grievances.

Be careful when sacrificing yourself to another.

Burning is much easier than restoring,

slicing flesh much easier than mending,

and giving much simpler than getting back.