We laughed, you and I
creating a domino effect,
collateral damage for my heart.
Your smile was a trigger that set off
every rigged-up butterfly in my stomach.
Your shaking shoulders wobbled the earth
into a movement that threatened
my rubber knees.

We played, you and I
fingers dancing over ivory keys,
making melodies like the jangling of broken teeth,
strumming cutting notes that plucked
my heartstrings like fresh, ripe fruit.
I used to sit tucked against your side
as your voice spun webs around my rationality.
**** you.
I still find them clinging sometimes
to the dusty, abandoned corners of
memories that fade too readily.

I remember, me, myself, and I
an embarrassing ambassador
from the nation of Unrequited Love.
I still wonder if it was Love,
or just blind stupidity,
or desperate masochism.
Because the memories now hurt more
than the sight of you, because my legs are still
unstable props for my caved-in heart,
because I haven’t the strength to
compose a new cacophony for my bones.
You and I, you and I, you and I
are just figments of a ghostly past.
Now I’m ready to leave them there.