Member-only story
All Those Things You Said
A Poem
“take my hand,” you said —
and I thought we’d travel
beyond our small town blues
and into rainbow shrouds
left after the worst rainstorms
but there were holes in the story,
places for the rain to collect
and flood us, try to drown us,
make us claw the air for release
“trust me,” you said —
and I let my hopes swell
to fantasies of endless meaning,
what we meant to each other
and what we would uncover
but there were rips in the fabric,
the threads between us fraying
and we couldn’t sew ourselves
back together, no matter what we did
“what do you want me to do?” —
the words were defeat and peril,
the stuff of waiting destruction,
because you were ready to give up
while I waited with a sword and shield
didn’t you see how we were straining,
the boulders crashing down the hillside
and we stood as victims-to-be…
