I'll retire your name from my vocabulary
So that I'll never taint it with my lips again

I'm sad about what could have been
But not about what was

Maybe I did feel something
But I don't think it was love

I miss the times you felt like home
Though they were few and far

Perhaps there is a difference
Between what was there
And what I saw

I stay up late writing ****** poems
You wake up with the dawn

We're night and day
We're sun and rain

It's just the way we are

And maybe to think
We'd work together
Was taking things too far

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take
But I still think maybe
Taking that shot was a mistake

I'm losing you either way
I just wish that you could stay
And that we would be okay

I guess I just want to say
I'm sorry

I'm left to wonder how these imaginary wounds will ever heal

But if they do will I have any proof that it was ever real

For her 18th birthday
Her parents,
Who were good Christians thankyouverymuch,
Bought her a golden cross
To wear around her neck

On her 20th birthday

She sold that necklace
And told her parents she lost it
While pulling her shirtsleeve down
To cover the marks on her arm

On her 23rd birthday
Her high school sweetheart
Put a dainty ring
Onto her even daintier finger

On her 24th birthday
Her husband asked where her ring was
“Oh, it’s just up in my jewelry box”
She said.
Her dainty fingers
Had become too skeletal to wear it

On her 26th birthday
She gave birth
To a lovely baby girl
With one straw colored curl
That looked like gold in the sun

*On her 26th birthday
A woman in a black suit
With a court order
Took her first born away
She never knew the woman’s name

I never heard the footsteps
I never saw his face
I never had any reason to think
That I wasn't safe in that place

I'd walked that path a hundred times
And probably a hundred more
To think I had only a few more feet
Till I reached grandma's door

It was cold on that day
And I wore my red hood
As I wandered out
Into the wood

It happened fast
My memory's unclear
There was a flash movement
A rush of fear

My clothes were torn
My mind was weak
My mouth was covered
Lest I try to speak

Then darkness fell
My body grew still
My hood was useless
Against that chill

*

I never made it to grandma's house
And I was never found
But, still, though they can't see me
I've decided to stick around

I pace the trails when it gets late
Lest some other girl meet my fate

So if you're walking in the wood
And see a flash of red
You'd best heed my warning
There's danger up ahead

I gave up my voice
To make you happy
Maybe if I'm silent
I can pretend nothing's wrong

"You're such a fish out of water"
You say
"No one else would want you"
I believe

I used to love singing
Until you told me my voice was flat
I keep my mouth closed these days
"Silence is fine," I tell myself

I used to take walks on the beach
When I was young
That's where we met

I haven't been to the beach in a while
Now, for some reason,
The smell of the salt air
Makes my stomach turn
And the sound of the waves
Makes me flinch

It's fine, though.
Everything's fine.