Puzzle Piece Poem by Casey Gochnour

Do you feel so close to me?
Have you fallen apart?
Apart from me, your puzzle piece,
Have we fallen apart?

Are the pieces so close that we could find,
Each other among the others, make them ours,
Piece them together, form something new,
‘Cause I knew from the start we’d need it.

And now again we sit in solitude,
Apart from each other with solid attitude,
Working on words, working apart,
But never too far from each others’ heart.

I feel as though I know what’s wrong,
I stopped caring about others, about what they thought.
I stopped wondering how people were doing,
I’ve been too busy focusing on my weakness.

I’ve been trying to bring up what I lack for,
When I should embrace my strengths.
I’m trying to be someone I’m not for myself,
Because I fear my own face.

I stopped thinking about people,
I only thought of strengthening my mind.
But I can’t do that forever, I know this now,
My mind will adapt, I can’t force it to be strong.

For the points that it has strengthened,
It has learned by adaptation.
And now I’ve lost friendships, acquaintances,
I’ve become solitude, a lone wolf stranded in the snow.

I must control my obsession to be stronger than I am,
For there’s only so many things I can truly be.
I need to focus on my strengths and make them stronger,
Because that’s all that I am.

I realize now I’ve become too attached to you,
There’s a reason puzzle pieces have multiple sides.
Because you can never just fit in with one person,
You have to connect with everyone so you don’t feel as though,
Part of you is missing.