Missing Piece

A poem about love and loss

Your love is cruel.

It makes me wear a mask and fake a smile when, inside, I’m dying.

For your love, I’d sit in the sun so you could stand in the shade. I would gladly take the heat if it meant you were comfortable.

With your love, I could stand ten feet tall. Without it, I am an ant in a world too big for me.

When I’m with you, everything is brighter. The trees seem greener. The sky seems bluer. The world feels softer, safer, full of possibility.

Without you, everything is dull. Out of focus. Black and white.

I’d wait for you for hours.

I’d pray for you for hours.

I’d pray until my knees bled, until they went numb and could no longer hold me up.

For your love, I would do time. I’d wear the stripes. I’d stand behind the bars if it meant knowing I still had a place in your heart.

But then you walked out my door.

You got on that plane.

You stepped out of my life.

You called another woman’s name.

And slowly, my world began to change.

The colors weren’t as bright anymore.