Collateral Damage Poem by Aida Santos

I was the collateral damage
To your moving on.

Your leaving was a bomb
Dropped stealthily in the deep of the night
And I stood there, mouth wide open
Eyes blinded by tears and dust.

You had disposed of me
Like you did of the plastic furniture you left behind,
Because there was no space in the van.
Collateral damage. Clean words.
They are simply a description
Of an aftermath.
They do not show the gaping wounds
In the seared pieces of my body
The metal spikes jabbed my brain
Left splinters in my soul
Of broken wings of my being
Mouth frozen in a silent scream.
I was, simply, a collateral damage.
And that didn’t matter much
Because you so desperately wanted a space
In the bombed-out crater in the ground.

Your leaving was a bomb
Dropped stealthily in the deep of the night
And I stood there, mouth wide open
Eyes full of tears and dust.

I was the collateral damage
To your moving on.