Not angry red anymore the knee

Not angry red anymore, the knee.

That sharp protest has settled down.

Now it's this deep, bruised blue, you see,

like twilight spreading over town.

No longer throbbing, just a stain,

a map of where the impact fell.

It tells a quiet, fading pain,

a story only my skin can tell.

And I trace the edges with my thumb,

this tender landscape, purpling deep.

Another mark of what's become,

secrets the surface likes to keep.