I have learned that I cannot make you the center of my gravity
Like a balloon tethered fragile to the whim of reality
I can no long depend on you for my vitality

But nor can I pull the creaking fingers of desperation from the pleated
Wrinkled splendor that was once white
I had tried and the trying nearly broke me
Wrecked me more assuredly than
If you would have come clean

I had painted you beautiful more beautiful than what my eyes could read
In the end you left me
The murmuring deceitful voices of change where right.
Withdrawn as you were and as wonderful as she sounded
I should have known
But I thought you better than that
Love was the shield I hid behind

But even it could not protected me
From the sound of you succumbing to the charms of another
Falling into the web of pity
and taking that lonely sickness
And letting it infect your judgment.