You stayed the night
while I lumbered my body
through a partition
closing me from life.

While I fought
through a sea of memories
holding me hostage
to long and lonely years.

You saw me
through eyes of tears
reflecting the hardness
mine needed to smelt

with coals being fired
in a heart of no use.

But you stayed, close to my skin
and had you pulled away
I would have understood.
You stalk me yet and I stand.

My eyes have shed their steel casings,
now ground as dust beneath my heel.
I look inward to softer places
and find the world not so hard.

You tell me you need to stay close
because you wish to claim
my strength if only by association.
but I ask,

of what heavenly use is a soft shell crab?