Equivocating Atoms

give me a name. let me wear it for a while.
as if i might be someone to be remembered.

let the ground bleed. as we sail upon its wound.
while time listens silently. too austere to grieve.

pull on the nails. rattle the chains.
dismantle our cages. though our prisons remain intact.

we spend our lives counting the intersections.
turning into the collisions.

time crawls inside our skins. a dubious advocate.
all snagged zippers and torn seams.

patently waiting for us to recognize the stranger within.