Daisy Jones

Her love was biting, made my lips bleed

It swelled and bloomed and burst

It was rocky, never smooth, but that’s the way we liked it to be

She was the kind of beautiful nobody believed existed

She was the kind of breathtaking people took for granted

Like she’d always be there

But she was never one to stay put or stay quiet

She was nobody’s consolation prize

Patiently waiting until they decided otherwise

She wasn’t the type to forget she was captivating

She didn’t want anyone to remind her either

Like she’d been praised her whole life for it and one more compliment would be too draining

Bitter coffee and broken edges

We wake up alone

Champagne and recklessness

She never stays that way for long

Quiet mornings and purple prose

Lemongrass and wild roses

She doesn’t think I know how it’s killing her to stay

She thinks she’s hiding the pain when it’s only amplified

It’s in the way she won’t look at me after a long night

And how her words can never piece themselves together after

“I love you,” I say

But the cotton invading my throat kills my hope

She doesn’t know that I don’t mind at all

When she’s slurring so much and I think she might fall

I don’t mind that all I’ll be is another forgotten love story

A t-shirt in her dresser that doesn’t ever see daylight

She was so passionate about everything

People fought for her and over her

People gambled their last dollar for a glimpse of her, sold their wedding rings, threw out their dignity

And she loved it when they begged

At the height of it all, we found each other when I was a young rose with no idea how to use my thorns

And she was a rebellious princess with no legitimate claim to the throne

I always thought when she fell from grace, she’d take me down with her

The light in her eyes blinked the same Morse code pattern

Like a ship pleading for help

I was no savior

But she liked to pretend I was

She sings prettily on white beaches

I’m in the corner eating overripe peaches

Her eyes are wide and glassy

Chapstick residue makes her lips waxy

Ticket stubs and dry eyes

And wild white lies

Like I love you

And I only live because you do

You have to stop before it kills you

But it’s so sweet to give in, you let it sweep you under anyway

And in the end, I’ll be a beautiful fool

Because I believed if I loved her enough for the both of us, that might be enough

She didn’t shrink herself down when the music got louder

She made herself bigger to match it

She could raise her left eyebrow to her hairline, and I couldn’t

So she would do it often to tease me

There were so many reasons to hate her

And when instinct told me to stay away

I didn’t listen

And all I knew how to do was love her

I realize somehow, probably alone in a bathroom staring at the mirror,

Trying to get my left eyebrow to quirk up

That she is only mine in the way the air in my lungs is mine

And the thoughts in my head are mine

Until they’re not