Gasoline Girl

Gasoline girl, with your fire engine heart

You say you can't believe she was running on empty and still got so far

She puts out your smoke shows with water words poured from chapped lips, no matter that there's blood dripping down her chin — it's just a free paint job.

Rewire her engine when you get bored, tinker tirelessly until it becomes a ticking time bomb, tell the cops you have no idea how this came about.

No, you didn't watch the timer taunt down to breaking point —

How dare she explode though we made her that way,

And when they get off with nothing but community service, they scoop up the

Shards of her shrapnel self esteem,

Rebuild her with apology tape and

Spray on a new coat of confidence

Reused from the fire engine red

Paint can promises she stored in their garage — what she doesn't know can't hurt her.

And when red-hot hands reclaim the rubble of the easier days, send them off as smoke-stained memories,

Do not turn away.

Do not renounce your creation as Mary Shelley would have her doctor do, no,

When the fire house finally goes up in unapologetic flames,

Watch her burn.

Be proud of the lifetime you spent for this moment.