Best If I Moved On. Poem by sharon wischkaemper

I found you yesterday
exactly where I'd left you,
in an old shoe box on the far end of my crowded shelf.
It was the perfect place to place
the only photo of you I decided not to burn
the night you decided to finally tell me
it was best if I moved on.

I thought It would take me my lifetime to undo all my heart strings
they were so tightly tied to you.
They had been bound to you since that first night
we lay intertwined until we saw first light
when your eyes met mine you looked at me
like a soldier coming home
you held onto me
as if inside my chest beat the purple heart you had earned.

Too soon learned what a battlefield love can be.
You and I marching like soldiers with our flags drawn.
unable to recognize each other while looking down the barrels of the guns we were holding.
When all I really wanted you to do was hold me.
Wrap your arms around the parts of me
you showed me were shattered.

I broke down and you broke away
after I said I needed an
I do
and you said
you won't.