In the beginning, you were sweet and kind
Left "good morning" and "you look beautiful today" notes
What others had said 'bout you was far from my mind
They were wrong, they didn't know of your dreams and hopes

Naive and young, I drank it in
Accepted each and every thing you said
I began to fall, I was stumbling
As visions of you and i danced in my head

But you had other plans, I guess
Which was okay, I gave you space
I cleaned up many a heartbroken mess
And provided a safe and constant place

Three years of pining after thee
Wore my backbone frail and thin
And the first time you reached out and struck me
Something black began to grow within

It clawed at my ribs and blood dripped down
Mixed with tears and shame
But with my heel I shoved it to the ground
For your love was worth the pain

i only miss you on mornings when the sun decides to show
and only on evenings when the stars and moon glow
when the grass is a shade of green and the sky is a blue,
when we're far, far apart and when i'm right next to you

i'll miss you for as long as night and day are oblique
and as long as seven days make up one whole week
for as long as you're gone and as long as you stay,
i'll miss you when you're here and when i'm counting the days

it's when you're all dressed up in a dapper-looking suit
it's when you're in bed, sick, and i'll have to make you soup
under all these circumstances, that is only when–
you know what? ***** this poem, i'd still miss you then

A Lover, cloaked in sorrow,
knelt beside his woman’s stone.
His Ann was only twenty two
when Heaven called her home.

Their love affair was secret
to all but her closest kin.
She had been pledged to marry
one of their long absent friends.

Those were dark days in New Salem.
Typhoid claimed her life.
Lincoln thought to end his own-
perhaps with rope or knife.

In those days friends feared for his life
So dark his mood became.
Some thought him suicidal
whom dark depression claimed.

A figure cloaked in sorrow,
deprived of a life with Ann.
Embraced his life of martyrdom
when the moment met the man.

I thought I knew all there was to know about me
I’d never thought someone would know secrets about me
that I didn't

yet, you told me
that somehow I always smell like incense
and vanilla
and warmth

And I had never given much thought to my spine
But you taught me
that there is beauty to be found
in the gentle curve of my back

You showed me
that my lips
could make constellations
trailing across your body
I was shocked to learn my kisses could be stars

And you knew
the back of my hands
far better than I ever will
because you held them to your lips
and you worshiped them

I’d never noticed my eyebrows
but the day you said you liked them
they became my favorite part of my body

And every inch of my skin that you touched
was better for it
And even when you're gone
I’ll always remember you
for turning my lips
into stars

I know where your body lies,
Sunken deep in a pile of sheets
On a bed that doesn’t belong to me,
Sticking to the cotton,
With the honey of another boy’s tongue.

Or you’re in a dimly lit room,
Entangled in a female’s bare legs that aren’t mine,
Urgently whispering a stream of syrup
And your most intimate desires.
In the following moments,
They trigger a series of fireworks.
And the seedy atmosphere
Falls into darkness.

Instead, I take a scalding hot shower,
Replacing the doubt I’ve accumulated
With uncompromised, pink skin.
I bury myself and kiss your lies goodnight.
I tuck them in snugly and hold them close,
Because without your acidic deceptions,
I will face another restless night.

I need as much energy as I can muster,
To endure the strings of false hope,
That will guide me through tomorrow.