A Terrible Love Story Poem by Lana Karina

Once there was a girl and a boy
They sat in the back rooms of cafes, with the smokers
Not because they smoked, but because they thought the tobacco clouds were romantic
And they cocooned themselves in blankets
And sipped shared coffee from the Starbucks down the road
She turned the paper cup so her mouth landed where his had
And he pointed out the shapes that sunlight dappled onto their shadows
And she loved him
And he loved her
But neither of them said it
And she thought of him at coffee breaks
and lunch breaks
and when the morning broke
And he brought her back shells when he went on holiday
And sea-glass shaped by the sand
Which she kept in a box on her dresser and never opened again
Because it was too delicate to even look at.
But she didn't throw it way
Even when she moved houses because of her work
Even when she travelled to Paris/Vietnam/Brazil.
And he missed her so hard he didn't know what to say
He called her but sometimes she didn't pick up
So he stopped calling
Because what was the point anyway
And he wrote her letters that he ended up throwing away
And she wondered at night why there weren't any phone calls anymore
And sat in the non-smoking sections of restaurants
And he got married
And she got married
But not to each other
And both of them died, at different times
And that was the end of their terrible love story.