A Hands-Free Kind of Love

A Poem

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

say it isn’t so —
the love you thought was yours
blew away like a summer storm,
quick like a lightning smack
till the thunder rolled through
and left behind white noise,
the cacophony of an ending

your tried and true impulses
scattered the stars above
and rumbled through the soil,
leaving an impression
much like a cracking heart
fissured from one last break
there was no coming back from

oh, you loved me —
that’s your claim to fame,
as if it should absolve you
of your sins before the altar
because vows meant nothing
when even you didn’t believe
in their promise of forever

you were the damage
in my brain,
in my heart,
in my marrow —
and I loved you like a burn
that couldn’t be treated
by a balm of sweet lies