The Walk Of Fools Poem by Lily Ives

I fell in love.
The rug was pulled from under my feet,
And I bravely took that first step off the cliff.
I did as they wrote in the stories and took a chance,
I was crowned a fool and proudly owned my truth -
For not loving was foolish, they said.
Though when I fell,
I hit the ground hard,
And I met the shadow cast by a street lamp.
There, I did not find a warm chest and a tight embrace,
Nor a soothing voice to promise a better tomorrow -
Not even a cold shoulder to weep on and sigh, a final good-bye.
Instead, there I heard the sound of my stilletoes greeting the asphalt,
And my ragged breath -
As I paced outside the firmly shut steel fence of his front yard.