An empty swing hangs from a tree
Drifting in the airs varying touch
Vacant in his mind,
Where light shines upon the grass,
Stretching and leading
While shadows kiss the base of it's warm bark
This tree has a memory,
As the swing longs in its drift

This place
Where she used to reside,
Radiating magic and captivating flowers,
Remains dormant

The swing longs,
The tree mourns
The light, slightly dimmed and muddled

While remnants of her enchantment
Leave the scent of life and beauty embedded in every space
Her words once touched

If I had the words,
Then I wouldn't have to write
You'd look at me and hear a song, instead

The notes are what you'd learn
The rhythm, what you'd feel
A signal flare, illuminating overhead

In kind, we'd bond
Words, lost from you as well
Looking warmly, eyes held in hold

In truth, our smiles would stretch miles,
While in the end,
Our stories remain untold

What brings you to the door?
How'd you find this place?

In an endless field of corn,
Shaded in the purple and pink horizon
This vacant house, where memories are forgotten,
And stories are buried in the fertile soil
Are kissed by the unblocked winds that turn the days like a clock

You must have traveled some distance to get here,
But why?

This house has withstood years of the elements,
The unhinged shutters, wooden splinters, and worn paint
Share a story long forgotten

You've knocked on a door that hasn't opened in years
And for better or worse,
Remains closed
To you

I haunt this house I once called home

The floors creak

The cats watch me

But your grief exists around me—untouched

I have seen the joy leave your body

I have seen you wracked by sobs,

Curled in the bed we slept in together

I see your eyes wander,

Glaze over,

All of your consciousness lost to another place

Another time, perhaps?

I remember the day we first came here

Some velvet-lined, sepia-colored summer afternoon

I said that we would die in this house

I did not dream

Had not thought

That I would be the death of us

Meanwhile, in an apartment downtown,

My soul walks the well-worn path of an ordinary life

Brush my teeth

Feed the cat

Open the window and breathe in the soft autumnal morning light

My heart sits at table in front of a mojito,

Laughing at another man’s jokes

And the mint tastes like starting over

And the laughter feels like freedom

But my heart

My heart feels like homesickness and guilt

And my head is already on his chest

As we lay in the quiet dark

All of the fragmented pieces of myself

Disjointed

As though you were the glue that held us together

When I go back in time
I can't help but to wonder
If you remember me like
I remember you
Did you take a piece of me
Like I took a piece of you

Back in time
Back in the day
Do you remember yesterday
When I go back in time
I still see you

When you go back in time
Do you see me
The way I see you
Remembering what we
Use to do

Back in time
Back in the day
Do you remember yesterday
When I go back in time
I still see you

The version of me you never met
Was the best secret that I ever kept

False smiles and a witty joke
You'll never see past the positivity cloak

Why would I tell you I'm not fine
When you don't let me in your mind

Hair up and makeup done
You'll never see me in the evening sun

Meals prepped, trash stashed away
You hear only what I want to say

Even this account is best kept private
If you knew my truth, you'd never survive it