I'm in sync with you,
and you don't even recognize it.
Your foot taps out a rhythm on the floor,
little do you know there's a matching song in my head.
The smile etched on your face
is echoed on my lips.
Meeting you breath for breath,
inhale and exhale in time to yours.
Unconsciously, you form a connection with me
Your only tool being natural instinct.
I already feel you so close to me,
But when you say those words it makes it that much more real.
I know that you feel me too.

The shadow hangs behind me
Stalks me, skulks around me in the brilliant sunlight.
Not even attempting to hide from me.
It's always hanging around, pressed to the sidewalk.
I become accustomed to its constant presence,
Forgetting that it still lingers at my feet.
But when it makes itself known to me again,
I freeze.
The knowledge that he is always there,
Fills me with dread.

I've learned to think you're not real.
It makes the situation easier,
It takes the edge off the pain.
Everything is clear cut
When the person who hurt you is a character.
When you created them only for a good story
That replays in your imagination.

But when they speak your name,
It occurs to me that you exist.
A person who walks these halls,
Just as I do.
A person capable of hurt and love.

And when the story is real,
My thoughts are that much more scattered.

One year, two, three
All of it blurs together.
My whole childhood,
gone in the blink of an eye.
Washed away with the waves of Huron.
In this moment,
the last of an era,
I want to stay.
I want to gather it,
pieces and fragments of seventeen years,
Into a blanket, surrounding me.
Close to me, within reach,
So it can't escape me.
Like if I wade in this deep blue,
Further and further,
I won't grow up.

The time has come,
To face my past.
The people I shared my life with,
are no more than faces.
Places that used to be my home,
are now unknown to me.
This life is a thing I don't recognize,
Have they changed, or have I?

What does it feel like
to be abandoned by hope?
A hole in your heart.

All the nights of my life
Blend together to form one time.
The same routine,
Constantly repeating.

Until you came along.
Then everything was different.
Each night was special, unique.
The stars smiled at me from my window,
The night sky blessed me with thoughts of you.
Even the moon put on its best dress
For us.

Until you left.
It all evaporated.
The nights mashed back together
Into one sloppy portrait
With so many missing pieces.