"you're beautiful"*
compliments slip so easily
rolls off the tongue
gliding; passing phrase

you say it enough till i begin
to believe it as much as you
want me to believe you
and i do, i do, i did
naive and foolish and as
broken as the day he left me

but you are a replacement, a shadow,
a puppet who took the place
of the boy i used to and still love
mere illusions of a past time
the heart grasps these empty sheets

oh hear!
dead silence when
the symphony stops
***** keys shatter; dull ringing
silence fills the space where
late night murmurs once were

for you see, sticks and stones
may break these hollow bones
but words will always devour
and destroy me

(A.H.Z)