I can feel myself slowly falling in love.

And why does falling in love feel like falling down a well? I wasn’t pushed, but I jumped and now I find myself clinging anything.

to the air, to the silence, to the fragments of vulnerability I have yet to tell you.

For who knows what will happen when I hit the ground?

I stare at the 15 year old girl
for the last time
her features match mine -
the only difference was her youth
they lowered her into the ground
I covered my eyes with my hands.

a few days later, I visited her grave
wondering if her spirit was nearby
etched onto her obsidian gravestone -
"here lies innocence in its purest form,
you will be greatly missed,
1999-2015"

all the words came pouring out -
all the words she didn't have then
that I found, that I have now.
I told her that she did nothing wrong,
that I love her, that I'm sorry this happened.
the tears flowed as fast as the words.

and that was when I saw it -
her spirit - dressed in white, smiling.
her weary eyes met mine as she spoke.
"my body left, but not my soul.
he didn't take my soul away,
and he never will. I'm always here."

I embraced her with all my strength,
happy tears streaming down my face.
she smiled for the first time in a while.
I whispered, "I'll be back, I promise."
I walked away from the cemetery,
a content smile on my face.

The breakup was
the best thing that
ever happened to me.
I lost everything except
my dignity.
I escaped with my soul.
She tried to buy it with
Sushi and Thai food,
but it's not for sale.
I would rather
freeze and be free,
than die warm in her cage.
No amount of love can
fix that abysmal madness;
that car crash confusion.
Daisies withered when she
walked by.
Her heart was rotten, like
an STD, like a
fish hook to the eye.