The other day...
a brother of mine
the one who laughs with lightning in his chest
and walks like nothing in life could break him
was broken
He found his girl
wrapped in limbs that weren’t his
Another man’s scent
on skin he once swore smelled like forever
He was inconsolable
Reduced to a crying spectacle
The kind of grief that doesn’t scream
it folds
It trembles like something holy has just been undone
He said...
The street don’t smile; my G
Love is sweet
but only for a while
Till your girl decides to cheat
And I believed him...
Because his voice cracked
in the middle of the word “loyalty”
like it wasn’t made for this century
He said...
Staying faithful now...
is like wearing armor in a world that prays with bullets
I didn’t reply
I just let him bleed
through words shaped like warnings
But quietly
somewhere between his sobs
and his snot-stained truths
I whispered to myself
If I were to love
I don’t think I could heed his counsel
Because love
even when it’s foolish
is the only thing
that makes me feel less like a ghost
And the truth is...
I don’t trust myself
Not with love
Not with pain
Not with the strange echo between the two
So I sat there
patting his back with one hand
and hiding my own heartbreak with the other
Because maybe
just maybe
if I console him well enough
he might be the one
to console my sorry self when it’s my turn
And there will be a turn
There always is
They say men don’t cry...
but we do
In silence
In showers
In long late-night texts
we delete before sending
I told him...
You loved right
She cheated wrong
That doesn’t mean your heart was weak
It means it was real
And as I said it...
I wondered if I was lying
or just practicing
for when I’ll need to hear it too
But one thing I swore
If I love again
I'll love loud
I'll love honest
I'll love hard
But I will not love stupid
Because heartbreak has taught me this...
it’s okay to give your all
just make sure it’s to someone
who won’t trade it
for a stranger’s touch in the dark
So here's to loving wisely
not wildly
To trusting again
but never blindly
To knowing that sometimes
it’s not love that failed you...
it’s who you gave it to