it came up behind you out of nowhere;
one day you were sitting there,
laughing with your friends under a tangerine sky
and now
you're wondering when, exactly, everything got so grey
and why you're no longer excited for your future
and why you no longer like to make eye contact in the mirror
and why you gravitate
towards all things
a little broken.
i know why...
you see yourself in them.
-a.c.b

But the boy told the girl,
“I will always protect you.”
And, for the first time,
She believed him.

The boy told the girl,
“You are special.”
And, for the first time,
She believed him.

The boy told the girl,
“Your soul is made of pure gold.”
And, for the first time,
She believed him.

The boy told the girl,
“I love you.”
And, for the first time,
She believed him.

i can't stop thinking about
all those afternoons bled to evenings
spent in your room with the shades drawn tight,
a single beam of light from the setting sun that peaks in
and highlights your face above mine,
all those times you would
pause from kissing me
just to remind me
that you loved me,
all those times i ran my fingers up and down
your bare chest, curled up against your neck
breathing you in,
all those times
your merciless lips covered every inch of me
made me forget the own taste of mine
without your tongue between my teeth
i can't stop thinking about
all those times
i fell in love with you over & over again.
-a.c.b

there's a certain comfort
in knowing it won't last forever,
a sort of grim foreshadowing of the end,
and knowing neither of us were to blame
and knowing we were both too smart
to really believe each other when
we promised forever.
-a.c.b

i've given you what i have
i'll give you what is left
all of me, the remnants
of what they've left behind;
my everything is yours,
even the parts i love
would look better in your eyes
than they ever did in mine;
i am giving you permission
to break my heart
at the end of this,
call me cynical, i know i am
but i can't help but imagine
the privilege it would be
to sit there, surrounded by a pile
of all my shattered parts,
knowing they were broken
by you.
-a.c.b

i’ll drive
if you’re in charge of music,
grab the crumpled up money in the top drawer of your dresser
and boy let’s go
up, out, and away from this town
away from the rules and the constraints binding me
to a life i don’t want to live,
let’s go
to a life i do want to live
a life with you,
rain smearing the traffic lights down the windshield of my car
music blaring through the open air
between us, the love
between us, is charged
electrified
feel the hairs on my arm stand up as
you shout my name, the trip
of a lifetime
you are
once in a lifetime
i guess i just want
a lifetime
with you.
-a.c.b