You promised!
It might have been the loudest thing I ever said in that classroom.
It bounced off the walls.
You promised.
They said
Say your lines
And I tried
But it was chaos
And I wrote you a poem in screams
That will never be published
And in that moment I uncovered the truth-
That you will see stages.
You will see packed audiences and intimate theaters
You will see rehearsal spaces and ballet mirrors.
I will write you poems in screams and tears
And love scenes
Across my entire life.
You promised!
My lines became my voice
And I spoke to your ghost in the air before me.
Nobody could hear that my words had slipped
Into new ones
Because they were all slipping too,
Lost in their own grief,
And I had my time with you
To ask you why
In anger
To beg you not to go
In fear
To say
You promised
With anguish
And let it bounce off the walls.
You, lover,
You will see stages
You will move audiences.
You will fill my soul like you did today
And it will finally bring somebody other than me
To their knees.