Your heart runs heavy on my mind
Like my smile ran gently across your cheek.
And I stare blankly into the darkness on the other side of the room
I wish you'd just call, now more than ever.
You're probably sleeping
But I wonder if you think of me before you fall asleep.
There's no rain to drown out my thoughts
So I'm left to grapple with the gravity of my situation.
Whatever that even means.
This is what I do instead of texting you when I can’t sleep at night
I write poems
Then save them to my drafts
Most of them are for you
One or two are about other things.
Some of them you've read
A lot of them you haven't
Most of them you never will
Unless I fix the things I hate.
They're too raw
Too emotionally charged
A window to my heart
A portal to my soul.
Maybe that's what makes good poetry
But they'd have to be good to be called good poetry
Right now they're just honest
I write honest poetry.
So until I learn to make honest poetry good
My drafts is where they'll stay
And maybe one day I'll just let you read all of them
But not yet.
You said you still loved me
You just don't feel the same anymore.
That sentence rings in my ears
Breaks my heart every time I hear it.
My world revolved around you for the last few years
I always did things that made sense for us.
I can't tell if this is what I want for me
Or if I'm just reacting to my new freedom.
You know I'll always be your cowboy
And I've always been your fool.
If you'd just call and ask me to
I'd drop everything and come to you.
I've learned a lot about myself the last few weeks
I don't need you to survive.
That's why I think it means even more
That I want you here with me.
And maybe one day I'll call
Or maybe one day you will.
We both know your laugh
Melts my heart like butter.
Sometimes I wonder what would happen
If I just showed up at your doorstep.
Would we hug? Would we talk?
Would you stare at me until I left?
I wonder where you are today
What you're doing.
I wonder if you thinks the same things about me
Or if you're just worried I'm drinking myself to death.
One day I'll come see you when I'm passing through town
Or I'll make a deliberate decision and play it off like a whim.
Maybe I'll call and we'll go on a date
And I'll know it's time to quit playing cowboy.
The Little Collector
Love shouldn't hurt like this
And it'll stop hurting soon.
The ache will go away
But you will always have a place in my heart.
Somewhere to come back to
If you ever wanted to.
I won't replace you
Like I didn't replace the girls before you.
I'll add to everything I've stored up
Saving those moments for the hard days.
A little collector
Stashing away the memories that make him smile the most.
There are things I want to tell you,
That I think you looked beautiful yesterday
And I'm happy to see you smiling so genuinely.
Happiness looks good on you.
I can't tell you any of these things though
I promised to leave you alone.
I think you already know all of the things I want to say anyways.
Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see you again
Sometimes I wonder if you meant it
When you said you'd call me.
The Best Memories
When I lie in bed I stare at the ceiling
I think about your face and the promises we made.
I wonder how love can leave so easily
And if it can ever come back.
I'm not sure what to do now
I think I might leave for a while.
The summertime is rodeo season
I'd like to go and do that.
I quit drinking, there's nothing to worry about
Though sometimes I'd like to start again.
I still have a beer or two every now and then
But it isn't bad, I learned my lesson.
You need closure from the things that hurt you in a past life
Something I can't provide.
I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for
I hope you find the happiness you so desperately crave.
I still don't hate you
And you're always on my mind.
If you need me you'll always be able to get ahold of me
And I'll always answer your calls.
I never did learn to say goodbye
If I had maybe this wouldn't be so hard.
But the best I can do is we'll talk later
I'd like to see you again when you're ready.
Fish In A Pond
A flash of light, 32 stars wide.
It blocks out the sun and the moon and the city lights so far away.
And for a moment nothing else matters, I couldn’t comprehend my troubles in that time.
And her eyes, some combination of a blue rimmed green that I can’t quite place and haven’t seen but in pictures for so long.
But I remember well how the light swirls in them.
Like fish in two ponds, blue.
I see you and momentarily I can forget that there’s so much distance between us.
It feels less like 1784 miles and more like a few breaths from me.
If only briefly, I can gain some respite from this incessant waiting.
But the waiting is unremarkable if it means that one day I’ll look into those eyes again and will see a smile that can block out a world of lights.