How do you let go of something
that you could only love pieces of
but still loved just as ferociously
as if you were to love the whole?

It’s like trying to let go of something whole
when you only held a few pieces of it to begin with.

As I lay in a tangle of sheets,
hands clutched over heart
as if shielding it from a dagger
that had already been stuck inside of it,

I marveled at how easy it was
for him to break me and my heart once and for all
when all I ever did
was give over my broken pieces

to make him whole.

someday, years from now
when you are waiting for her to come home
and your mind drifts to thoughts of me
and you like to think that I'm wandering aimlessly
drawing maps out of the past hoping they'll lead you back to me
you should know I've found a new resting place in the stability of someone else
I show him every scar and the stories behind them
and he smothers them in a kindness that cleanses every record of you
I left your memories with my shoes at his doorstep
and I stopped missing you when he welcomed the parts of me
I always had to hide from you

We are born afraid
Of the shattered pieces that come
Maybe we are supposed to break
For the gold cracks of light
to shine through us.

Colours have faded
off the walls
but the walls remain.