so hold your chin
up high until the tears
go back so far
it remembers the first time
the very first of them fell
for a girl who wasn't worth
crying about.

pick the very broken pieces of you up
and hug them gingerly like puzzle pieces
waiting to be finished by
someone who deserves all of you
someone who will stick around
to see the whole of who
you truly are

go back to those places
where your lips spent more time together
than apart and promise yourself this
is not how the story has to end
with regret and shame and sadness
and anger
promise yourself you will learn to separate
the place from
the girl your dreams have made
their queen


but no matter how hard
you try there will always be
bits and pieces
of you in her
and you will never be
made whole again.