Poetry: love; heartbreak

heartbreak is the wrong word.

When love ends, it doesn’t break or snap or shatter.

that would be too easy

like a bandaid.

No

love lingers

like the embers of a fire that once blazed strong and warm

like the dull aching of a muscle injured as a child

like a deep unsettling feeling that comes and goes with the tide

No

love fades

with time and space and healing

but my child

from those embers you will find new love

rising like a phoenix

in others, in yourself, in the world around you

and my child

you will be better off for it.

i promise.

--

there is action

in silence

too.

--

don’t forget, sweet girl

that you enjoyed

a life

before him.

and

you will enjoy one

after he is gone

as well.

--

follow your heart

they say.

it knows what to do.

but how do I follow something

that’s been shattered?

broken by you?

--

do you know that we have 206 bones in the human body?

206 ways that you could have broken me.

and you chose the one that wasn’t

a bone.