You stare back at me,

Soft pearl lips upturned

In an unassuming grin

Your eyes shine with the glow

Of a bright lunar night

The mask you've chosen

To wear tonight

You switch between them,

Like a coin flipping

Heads or tails

One moment,

You're a sweet, innocent angel

The next,

You're twisting a sharp blade

Into my back,

Giggling with delight as crimson life

Slowly fades away

There are false sides to you,

The facets of a gem,

Ever changing color

As they spin

I'm not sure if there is

A genuine part of you

Always, you are fake,

The face smiling back at me

This kitchen, overlooking the green, yellow, red

Of the garden

Fills me with pain

For soon it will go

The place I loved

I can love no more.

His bedroom, walls postered, seeping music

I loved so much

Fills me with pain

It makes me wince

My purest love

Now slides out the door.

Our new house, twenty years ago, we filled with joy

And perfection, now

Fills me with pain

For I broke the spell

And shattered illusions

Perfection no more.

Those same things that always filled me with pride and elation

For our true love, now

Fill me with pain

The pain of regret

And those I have loved

Can love me no more

Summer

Two months of reprieve from the monotony of school

The cliques and social circles still exist, but they are morphed into a completely different beast

Staying out late at parties, the familiar crush of dancing bodies crowded all around

Sipping drinks on the beach

Pouring your heart out in unreciprocated texts

Watching the people you care about leave

Sitting on the porch as they leave you, and this small town

Gone in the blink of an eye