Emily Winters                                                                                                                     

                  

“Assumptions”

I thought that love

Could keep us from breaking apart

And I thought that touch

Could replace talk

But now I’m alone,

An island torn from

Everything

That can sustain,

Adrift with a severe lack of oxygen.

I thought stitches

Could sew what time unraveled,

Yet I’ve discovered after a century

Of palaver

With my inner ghosts and overgrown head

That wounds will always heal –

If not by way of simple syrup

Or the mortician’s tactful fingers –

But some hurts never cease

Somethings burn even as the sun

Has abandoned its post

And drifted close the blinds

To rest.

I thought that we could be one

And I thought that for once,

We could be the victors,

Our love could have won.

We could have

We should have –

Statements as bad as “what if;”

Crying over spilled milk

But I’m crying over spoiled blood and

Mutilated hearts…

I thought that we were in love.