Another night, another post way too late… Here’s another poem from my archives… I don’t have a title, so… (I also think it’s not finished? I literally wrote this years ago)…
“Did you ever want to do something for someone else?”
I met her at an art gallery of all places.
She was shorter than an easel, taller than the canvas.
Her hair matched the color of coffee, her skin was the cream.
Her eyes were fixed on some piece a friend of mine made.
I looked at her, she reciprocated.
Her look toward me was apprehensive, scared even.
She scanned me like a cashier, then she stopped at my shoes.
Her eyes darted up back to mine.
“I got you those shoes you wanted last month.”
I asked her out after two weeks of back and forth texting.
She wasn’t like anyone else.
She and I went to some burger place.
We waited in silence for fifteen minutes.
We stared at one another, content with life.
She ate her food as messy as I did.
She was wearing a hat that was too tight.
She wasn’t afraid.
“I’m scared I won’t end up happy like my parents.”
After three dates, she was my girl.
For the first time, I felt joy.
I’d just look at her and smile.
I wanted to see her all the time, she did as well.
I gave her my heart, she did as well.
I would hold her and never let go.
I never wanted her to leave.
“I got an opportunity in Austin, I have to move pretty soon.”
It’s been a year since she left.
We talk every other day.
She visited as much as she could.
But I never visited her.
She didn’t like that.
But she still loved me.
And I loved her.
“I can’t stand you anymore.”
She last texted me a month ago.
She wanted her sweater back.
I gave it back in the mail.
I looked at a picture of us.
She was smiling and so was I.
It was real, and genuine.
But I never loved her enough.
“Will you ever love someone like me?”
Pretense & Circumstance 