Manufacturing Consent

by Dan Smith

When we fell,
You held me up
Effortlessly above the knot,
Finally breathing.
With only one hand you could bear the weight
Of tragedies and time.
A glance, a smile, or a silhouette of longing
Was all it took to keep me up
Above gravity's refrain.
Silent in space, spiting miles with your grasp
I believed the hope behind the eyes I'd see in pictures.
Your fingers crossed,
You cleverly veiled the atrophied hands of the clock,
Hands once thought to be yours
Holding me up,
Revealed to be a cycle,
A pattern of using bodies
Until the rope holds the whole.