Ive never been good at leaving
but I am accustomed to being left
bereft is my middle name
abandoned is my first
and ruins is my last
I am a mess of unhappy endings

the breaths in between are just syllables that sing out names
of familar beings now foreign
the echo of lost and forgotten things
only I find I am
cursed to remember

everything is unforgettable
to an empath and a thinker
reflections are pathways back home
and doorways into the unknown
I should lose myself there
not stalk the night

like an owl
prowling for prey
that tastes like you
all the pain Ive come to know
the breaking Ive come to expect

I imagine my heart
is bent and twisted up
disfigured tree limbs
vines of scar tissue
a highway filled with dead caucuses

a gravel road
paved in ruins
some of my own making
where inside
regrets grow like weeds
around a cemetary of memories

In time
one by one
I will pluck them out
cut away the dead flesh
learn to make peace
to move on

bid farewall
to this cold and broken shell
of a frost bitten heart
walk out of the darkness
of past scars

embrace freedom
*forgive and let go