Flawless Illusions Poem by Shelly Price

Crying a river,
levy walls about to break.
Searching for the exact day,
a time when the road veered
left and I choose to go right.

How could I have missed it,
scarlet letter on my chest.
Trying to make the jigsaw puzzle
pieces fit when they obviously
didn't.

Your round hole, my square peg,
crammed into place for a blink
of an eye.
For all intents and purposes,
a picture perfect charade.

Until I broke the spell,
wanting to have a face in
the emptiness of your heart.
Needing a louder voice to be
heard over the screams of sirens,
flashing red light warnings,
while you continued to tread water.
Weighing the cautions
against the broken pieces of
splintered glass impacted under the
surface of your flesh.
Hour glass of yesterday
having shattered the integrity of
your being.

On and on unvaryingly we went,
layer after layer after layer,
peeling back bits and pieces
of the scarred tissue,
exposing filled suit cases
still packed,
lies folded neatly.
The house of cards built
on a foundation of mistrust
so thin...so fragile,
waiting for me to step just once
in the wrong direction.

You watched from the distance
as the walls came tumbling down
in heaps on top of me.
Buried in your smug satisfaction,
content in your thinking.
A coward who watched the pain
engulf me,
sitting on the bench,
waiting another turn to swing the bat.

Slapped hard,
stinging cheeks,
blood stained in vain,
the inevitable motion of
no turning back facing me head on.

Now you dare to come to me,
to burglarize my dreams,
you are a thief in the night.
A robber of peace and serenity,
I sleep.

You come armed with memories flashing,
rolodex images,
plastered smiles on mannequin faces,
white picket fences.
Not a hint of your round hole,
my square peg.
No forced jigsaw puzzle pieces.
Only the dangerous perfection
of flawless illusions...

daring me to feel something from
the nothing you left behind.