Leave The Sharp Pieces On The Floor

Photo by Tae Fuller from Pexels

We stared into each other’s eyes, knowing it would be the very last time.

All I could think about was the day you let me win in charades,

And how you stole all my patience and dimes.

We looked at each other, but the world around us kept spinning.

Perhaps it was for the best, we were mere moments away from falling apart –

Or falling in love, whatever it takes to keep winning.

We lived in each other’s minds, now we only live in those memories.

I lean on you whenever my stamina wants to break in half

Because you taught me to never panic and never please.

But that day we learned how it feels to break into the sharpest of pieces,

How it feels to become just a picture on the wall,

A story someone drunkenly tells your nieces.

I remember, I remember it vividly – how we never looked away.

Everyone talked, but we watched their judgement fall,

Hoping that the endless storm was just a rainy day.

Now I pass by your house and the shadows melt into my blueish skin.

All I can think about is the day I beat you in chess,

And how I robbed you of arguments and of battles you could win.

What a time, what a blasphemy to all the loves that we hold holy.

I stare at the horizon from my window, knowing you feel it,

Knowing you think that you really owned me.

But I was a child back then and you were already made of steel.

Leave the sharp pieces on the floor, just leave it.

I have matured way past the need to make frozen hearts feel.

-JW