God I knew I should've left.
I shouldn't have even held your gaze.
You have stupid and ugly beautiful blue eyes.
I shouldn't have
I just shouldn't.
Shouldn't have gone to the bar,
Shouldn't have wiped that one tear from your face.
Shouldn't have accepted your comfort.
I shouldn't have fallen for you.
EVERYTHING was done right.
I kept it simple and friendly,
no dancing in the rain.
No laughing in the night.
It took one night on vulnerability to break down my walls.
I'm trying so hard to rebuild them,
I don't want to be close to you.
I don't want to be close to you or anyone else.
Every time I build my walls,
I put in the effort for it.
Each brick I cement into place...
Do you think it's easy for me to push you away?
It's not.
None of this is easy for me and yet here you are,
flicking bricks away from my walls as if they were paper.

I didn't shed a tear until
yesterday.  Your memory
pulled me back
years of
the flood of
the days and nights,
the children, rogue
warriors in our battles
their  children confused
by the confessions,
the chest pounds
of sorrow.

Where you remain
under the guise
of husband.


Caroline Shank
July 10, 2022

BLACKBERRIES

When the woods were green
And the air was clear
And the sky was mottled
With fluffy clouds,

When the river was high
And the water was clean
And fish hid in the shadow
Of submerged rocks,

When the cars were small
And the traffic slow
And wild blackberries
Grew by the roadside,

You were my love
And I was yours
And everything
Was shining bright

The scenes have changed
And so have we, but
love has never faltered
And every day still shines as bright
As when we picked blackberries.
         ljm

When I was but a shadow,
You saw through my disguise.
You saw my mind,
Looked past the blight,
You held me close,
Untied this rope,
And retied into a neat red bow:
Uniting mind, body and soul.