Three Pathetic Words
Don't tell me you love me.
When tears fall and my heart is sliced to bloody ribbons
When the foundations of the world quake beneath my feet
When I stumble
and fall
When my soul lies rent upon our stained bedroom floor
When the darkness devours
and the call of that final step off the edge of a cliff beckons warmer than embrace
When my screams refract in eyes and lips sewn in a tight line
When a beacon of hell-fire holds more allure than the drudgery of days beneath an unforgiving sun
When the words won't cease their devouring stir
When the quiet is louder than ten thousand voices raised in song
When I cannot even hear the echo of those voices upon the cathedral walls
and the entire earth is painted in shades of sickly gray...
Don't tell me you love me.
Don't sell me the empty promise of those pathetic words.
Don't pat my hand and murmur assurances and treat me like a bird with broken wings.
Weep with me.
Ride upon the waves of ground bucking beneath our feet.
Fall beside me and clutch me to your chest. I promise to hold you right back.
Bring the cleaning bucket and glue and we'll spend the afternoon washing away the stains and sticking the broken parts of each other back together until we're whole.
Step with me into the darkness. I don't need a flashlight, so long as I can feel your hand in mine.
Leap into the sea at my side and we'll laugh as we sink beneath the waves.
Open your eyes and see that sometimes we both need those silent screams.
Walk with me through the gates of hell and help me seize our dormant dreams.
Be the paper upon which I might spill the words in a hurricane of poetic rain.
Sing with me, so that our voices might drown out the sound of that terrible silence.
Sit with me and let me hurt. Let me paint the world in crimson shades of my pain. We'll hurt together. Heal together.
Don't tell me you love me.
Tell me you understand.
And maybe then, I'll believe you next time you say those three pathetic words.
Show me you love me
and together
we'll soar.