Halfway There

When we talk,
disconnect dangles on the end of every word.
The conversations aren’t forced, 
but they are definitely fleeting, 
and pierced with potential that will never be fulfilled.

When I think of you, my visions are skewed. 
My memories used to play cinematically,
and I would fixate on that imagery as if my life depended on it. 

Now, they’re bits and pieces of scenes I vaguely recall being in.
Flashbacks of us kissing are interrupted by the arguing,
and it’s not long before the tears take center stage.

You were what I wanted,
but you were rarely what I needed. 
I tried to bury your flaws underneath the moments
where we stood a fighting chance. 

These days I’m growing closer to the version of me
that does just fine without you. 
When you look at my Instagram,
I wonder what goes through your head.

I’ve forgotten what you smell like,
and I’ve become foreign to your touch. 
How beautiful it is to know,
I can’t hold on to what I can’t feel.

My love for you stretches to the end of time,
but I don’t like you, not one bit.
You treat me like I’m unworthy of respect,
but loathe the idea of us becoming total strangers. 
Yet even with our history,
we’re already halfway there. 

written December 30, 2019.

Tired

I am probably more tired now,
than I have ever been.
It doesn’t consume me,
but it’s a constant reminder
that a woman like me
should never feel this way.

I’ve resigned from writing about you a million times over,
yet here I am again.
Instead of fighting the urge to spill the contents of my heart
onto pieces of paper,
I’ve continued to let them pour.

Still, I simply wish that my inclination to do so
fades away –
just like your love for me.

written May 11, 2019.

(Love) Story

I begin to string words together just to delete them.
These sentences will never do my feelings justice,
so I’m unsure of why I try.

When your heart mourns the loss of someone
who hasn’t passed
but your time with them has,
there’s not much that you can say.

I erase your number from my phone
just to put it right back in.
I’ve dug up a picture from the spring.
I look at it as a means to retrieve a time
where letting you go wasn’t an option.

I never would have thought we’d end up here.
But we can go a lot farther, you know.
You can overcome your fears
and I’ll be here to see it unfold every step of the way.
Only if you want to, though…

But you won’t.
And you don’t.
So I reluctantly say goodbye to the thought of us,
because for you I guess there never really was one. 

It would make too much sense
to be with the woman that makes you happy.
You like our story,
just not the part about love.

written July 20, 2016.