Tearing Down Bridges Poem by Maya Hanson

Tearing Down Bridges



A quiet fear of perfection
lingers in your eyes
and makes it hard for me to breathe

If this isn’t
good enough for you
we might as well start over,
take a blow to the bricks,
build from the beginning again

We’re tearing down bridges,
smashing down walls,
burning the evidence,
hanging up again

Then mending the quilt,
holding your hand,
drying up tears,
starting again

I dive off the cliff,
fingers crossed,
hoping the water’s clear
for once

But the instant
I break the surface
you leave a chair overturned
and I spend my life mending
what’s been broken

We’re tearing down bridges,
smashing down walls,
burning the evidence,
walking away again

Then mending the quilt,
holding your hand,
drying up tears,
starting again

Fingertips dancing across warm skin
filled my dreams,
too perfect to preserve,
I should have known

And then I woke up
on one side of the door,
turned the handle,
burned my hands,
found you missing once more

We’re tearing down bridges,
smashing down walls,
burning the evidence,
crying all night again

Then mending the quilt,
holding your hand,
drying up tears,
starting again

And now I know
it’s not up to you
whether we bend
or just break

I’ll let you leave,
watch the water slip
from my fingers, but
still shiver as the door shuts

They said you were perfect
but what’s perfect
to me
is the way you
perfectly
left.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Topic(s) of this poem: love and loss
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