Hold On Tight?

"Hold on tight!" That is what cold
Men say to desperate children.
"Hold on tight" to ladies of
Situations, complications
Tied up in implications
But still leaning, keening still
Holding onto that man whose
Touch rips the skin off hands, dreams, 
Future life and rice pudding
Treats.

It is all well and good to keep on 
Holding, enduring, lured in
By white picket fence longings,
Kept there by expectations
Cats cradle devastations,
The rent that gets paid: he gets laid.
And what? What of love? Exchanges
Plural ties held for ages,
That clock tick tocking. Christmas
Cake 

Heart, just past it's best, stale
Almost, not quite fresh unless
Some deal can be done, sea-tide
Frown, as the lighthouse bends rays
And the conch shell beach sirens
Drown out quiet cautions remnant
Whispers, his whiskers scratch skin
"What is this, mine fairy kind?"
Losing, dying increments
Fold.

"Hold on tight!" cold men insist
Even when holding on drains
Pains, claims; yet never inflames
The center, the core, nor mentors
The life of the very woman
They dare to say they adore. 
I abhor, no, more than that
I tear out the page, start anew
Writing over me, writing out
You.