An angel stripped of her halo,
locked in a dungeon
of self-doubt and heartbreak,
longs to be saved.

She dreams of her knight in shining armor
rescuing her from the fear onto which she clings,
the same fear that stifles her uttermost dreams.

But her saving grace must fight his own battle,
a ferocious war between the good he once found in her heart
and the evil that still plagues his own mind.

The bright light that used to shine from within her eyes
has lessened to a mere glimmer of fluctuating hope,
and her once supple lips have slowly but steadily dried,
for it has been so long since they tasted freedom.

But what must it take for this beauty to be saved?

She has been taken from a world of wonder,
a planet of peaceful longing and generous love,
into an isolated cell unto which no living being has stumbled.

For this prison is within her own mind.

And it is up to her
to save herself.

1 year ago - I remember you messing up your locker combination over and over again, just to make me laugh;

11 months ago - I remember you taking every opportunity you could to talk to me, even about the simplest things. You were so nervous, but honestly, so was I;

10 months ago - I remember you finally getting up the nerve to take the next step but getting too nervous and backing out before anything too serious happened;

9 months ago - I remember keeping in touch with you the whole summer and, in August, being alone together for the first time. You wouldn't dare make a move just yet, though. You had a plan;

8 months ago - I remember being back in school together, growing closer, falling faster;

7 months ago - I remember you being too scared to say a word, so I'd always be the one to start up conversations. But finally, one September night, I remember being alone at that football game and you putting your arm around mine;

And 6 months ago - I wish I could forget, because that's when you and I fell apart.

Since then, it's been 26 painfully tense weeks /
183 days of anxious avoidance / 4,380 hours of regret /
262,800 minutes of missing the way things used to be.

But through all this time,
all these billions of seconds later,
I still get that same exact feeling
every time I hear your name.

And I guess what I'm getting at is:
is it really that foolish of me to believe that
you could still feel the same?

Because yes,
I know that it's been 6 whole months since we fell apart,
but after all, it did take us that same amount of time
to fall together.

I remember thinking you weren't gonna show,
that what we had was just some sort of concoction
spun up by my own imagination,
a distraction protecting me from the painful reality
that you'd never be my own.

I remember preparing myself to be immersed in that
miserable reality, though,
getting ready to go home and explain to my mom
that what I'd thought was something
had really been nothing all along.

But just as I was about to give up
and pursue that hopeless journey
of reliving my greatest misapprehension,
there you were in a bright yellow t-shirt,
waiting at the top of the hill.

I remember walking up to see you standing there,
putting bait on your fishing line
as if that was your only care.

I remember how music was blaring from your truck's radio,
like you were some sort of cool guy
I'd never get the chance to know.

But I could tell that was all just an act,
because, man, did you turn around fast
the second I said hello.

And who could forget those shades.
You know, the ones you kept on
the entire time we were together.
I guess you were just afraid that without them,
I'd see right through that wall you'd built up
to keep me from knowing how you really felt.

But little did you know you'd already given yourself away...

I remember how badly your hand shook
as you put more bait on the line,

How big you smiled at all the stories I told
and every single joke of mine,

How surprised you were when I asked you to sit
because you didn't know what to do,

And how much space you made sure to leave between us
when I sat down next to you.

The funny thing is,
I bet I could recall more details about that single summer day
than I could about the past sixteen years of my life.

And the sad truth is,
no matter how badly I wish to move on from that summer,
I'll never forget the way you once felt for me
and how happy I was to see you waiting there
in that bright yellow t-shirt.

He makes me feel a way you never once did,
but you both made me feel something.

He and I talk like we're best friends,
but we used to have conversations like strangers,
getting to know each other better
with each and every word.

And even though he makes me feel
just as happy as I felt with you,
I don't get a rush when I hear him say my name;
I don't look for him in a crowded room.

So I guess I just can't figure out
whether I fell for him to get over you
or so that he could lead me back.

He was the sun;
I was the rain;
together, we made a hurricane.
And during the eye,
for that simple night,
we were able to reunite.
The sun and the rain
together again,
but we knew it had to come to an end.
So the next day
the sun went away
and the rain never said
goodbye.