and the truth of the matter is that i am your lesson but you are not mine.
you were not my first real love or heartbreak you are not the first person to teach me that giving yourself to someone means getting little in return means leaving a breadcrumb trail of your shattered heart in the wake of what was means reaching for something in a dark room with all the hope in your chest and finding nothing you were also not my first round of mistakes not the first time i realized i let love go too early not the first time i said goodbye before i meant it before i needed it not the first time id crawl back foot down my throat immobilizing my apologies you were also not my first dive in head first my first give everything whole heartedly my first act before you think before you speak before you fall because falling comes with breaking comes with heartache but i was yours. i am yours. your firsts.
so you will miss me more than i miss you you will see me in every person who crosses your path just like i saw him in you you will compare my blue green eyes to her brown ones and my touch to her hands and you will not forget my name or the way i tasted or the way my laughter filled your dark room or the weekends we locked ourselves in your room for hours and never needed anything outside those four walls and you will regret you will regret not memorizing the stretch marks that line my inner thighs you will regret not engraving the memory of my eyes you will regret not capturing the feeling of my head laid across your chest our bodies tangled together memorizing one another and that is okay.
you were never mature enough to give as much as i was you were never ready to skip the mistakes and the meaningless apologies you were not ready to love me the way i needed and that is okay.
when the next girl comes around you will notice her nose is slightly shaped differently than mine it doesnt feel the same under your kisses it doesnt crinkle the way you used to love mine to do but you will love her anyways and this time it will be the way i loved you the way that knows how to love is ready to love the way that gives and expects nothing in return but still keeps giving you will remember to cherish her and i hope she has already learned her lessons as well
and when you realize we could have been everything you ever promised me we would be when you wake up one morning and piece together the puzzle that was our mess when you finally understand that this love could’ve changed the world i will smile in your direction and wish you the best because we all needed those lessons, i just wish i didnt have to be yours.