The bridal gown is white like a lab coat.

My soul recoils at the sight.

I turn away

Only to be drawn in once more.

It is shockingly white,

Stinging my eyes like

Lightning, like

The flash of an intruder’s camera

In a dark room,

Where I am caught in my shame and

Nakedness.

I cannot conceive of such purity.

The gown’s flowing tail drags along the aisle

Like fresh tendrils,

White like the teeth of a demon in disguise,

White like the cheeks of an infant cadaver.

I apprehend it as the purest blanket of crystalline snow.

There is no path, and

I must tread through it to reach the driveway.

I have work at nine.

My footprints press scars into the face of the snow,

They leave behind pools of black, sticky bile.