Slow Down, Honey (You're Killing Him)

"Be well-versed in everything,
and be free."
An old man said this to me once.
It followed a story of a woman he loved.
About how they'd met at a carnival.
And it ended with sin dripping from her claws.
I thought about that man later.
The detail in my memory became more exaggerated than I had remembered.
His wrinkles deeper.
His eyes more faded.
His heart heavy with years spent dying.
The bench we warmed tattered and rusted.
And I could see the hurt.
And I thought about the woman he pained for.
And I hated her.
I hated the way she made me feel for him.
And hated the way he thought about her after all these years.
And that more than anything, that man wanted to be free.
So he told anyone who would listen without giving away his story.
"Be well-versed in everything.
And be free."