it's all so much brighter on the big screen: smoother, prettier, better

they look at each other with twilight in their eyes and a sparkle in their smile, making our worn out eyes and dull teeth look like a joke in comparison

they fight over the little things but in the end he comes back to her and she realizes her mistakes, they aren't stubborn like us, he isn't as resilient and i'm not as carefree

when i see them i realize the fault in our own love, when i see them i don't see any shattered glass or fragments of organs that used to be in you but were squeezed out because of how densely crushing your last love was

i don't see the drops of imaginary red dripping from their chests and suddenly it all makes sense

it works on the tv screen because they aren't broken like us
they don't cry themselves to sleep, they don't hold on to the past tighter than they hold on to themselves
they're characters and they're lines, they're stage directions and sure he may look at her in a way i only dream to be looked at but your brown eyes and worried brow are something i wouldn't trade in for a second

at the end of the day those are the movies and this is reality and when the lights turn back on i'm back to square one

no gleaming eyes, no defied gratitude, just me and you