Reaching Out Poem by Elizabeth Grace

I tried so hard to love you.
You could have been my forever.
You were written in the script,
cast as the lead,
but you walked out
before you even learned your lines.

You and I were never dynamic.
We were so safe that
coming to you was a
homecoming, open arms and
soft smiles.

Time passed like sand,
slipping through
grasping fingers at
a tender kiss.

Days were linked to
dreams as you became
my every moment.

I tried to reach out to you,
a broken hand stretched
toward shore, over
miles of waves, crashing
like nightmares, but
we called them memories.

I remember the nights, so close,
with tears like oceans
vast, crashing behind our eyes,
every moment closer to
breaking upon the shore.
You consumed me,
overwhelmed me,
drowned me in your dreams -
a simple future built of sand,
washed away
with the tide.

So bury me in cardboard boxes,
with paper cuts from all the notes signed
'love, '
with honesty and promises
I never thought were lies
until the day you said goodbye.
Break my hands until they learn
never to reach for you again.

Maybe when I am washed up on
the shores of time and salvation,
gasping for air after nearly drowning
for so long
I will find a way to rebuild,
and I will begin to create my life
without an ocean.
Without you.