(A/N: This is dedicated to Lily Evans, Severus Snape, and to the rejected. I don't know if this actually classifies as poetry cause a] it's absolute crap and b] there really isn't any poetic element in here, so... I don't know. I just thought it sounded like a poem of sorts. Please review. This is the first poem I've published, and it was typed during the time I'm supposed to be working. Oh well. R&R!)

Pain and Secret Places

By BuzzCat

He felt the pain.

I felt the pain.

I watched as the others went by without the pain.

The pain of rejection.

To be forced away from everyone.

To be hated even by the one you loved the most.

I watched as he slowly crawled back into his unfeeling shell.

I envied him, how fast he could adapt.

How fast he could crawl into his hole.

How fast he could not care.

I turned, and pretended that I hadn't seen his eyes.

That they hadn't stabbed me with the pain of his loveless life.

That I wasn't crying for him.

He was by my side again.

He was in his shell, but it was a different kind of shell.

The kind that makes you stronger.

I was afraid.

I was afraid that with his new shell, he could hurt me.

He could wound me beyond repair.

And if he hurt me, I knew there was no repair.

He held me in his arms, and I was still scared.

Was this how he planned to make me pay?

To show me what could have happened?

He pressed his lips to mine, and I felt my entire body scream in agony.

The pain, the sheer ecstasy.

He was fulfilling my every dream, and then taking it away.

He pulled away, and I felt my agony and hurt flowing freely from my eyes.

He looked at me, and suddenly I was able to once again see his hurt.

I was looking into his very soul.

And his soul was full of hurt and pain and rejection.

He was the abandoned puppy cowering in the rain.

He was everyone's hidden side.

He was the underside of the rock, the side you never want to see.

Not for the mud and dirt, but for the knowledge that your hidden side is exposed.

He was exposed to me. His every fear, his joys, and his hopes were open to me.

And I fell to my knees, crying.

I cried that he could hurt me this bad.

That he could poke in my most secret places, and not suffer from it.

He knew me inside and out, and could hurt me the most.

He knelt down, and put his hurtful and caring arms around me.

Despite the agony it would bring, I leaned into him.

I heard him whisper in my ear,

"I'm not hurting you.

I love you, and don't want you to go.

Stay, and please hurt me.

"Hurt me like I must have hurt you.

Hurt me until you don't hurt anymore.

And then say you love me too."

I looked into his eyes,

And I saw truthfulness.

His truthfulness was strange.

He wasn't lying to me, so I was confused.

He was holding me tenderly, so I was happy.

He was kissing me on our wedding day, so the world was right.