by Rachel Kelly
I Weathered the Storm, but You Weathered Me
Text copyright © 2014 by Rachel Kelly
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher and author.
First Printing, 2014.
Summary: A poetry collection about heartbreak, infidelity, leaving, and finding your way.
Ebook ISBN: 9781310557255
The ache of missing you does not sound like a song, it sounds like a hollow tomb
Dark trees,
Darker nights,
Overgrown hedges hiding houses
That once resembled magic, but now
Only exhibits the feeling after being left;
I am a creaky home,
Once bright and shining,
Now tired and falling apart.
I could use an extra coat of paint,
Some trimming around my ivy,
My windows need to be re-done,
My roof is collapsing.
How could so much beauty
Be lost in the simple case
Of missing someone?
--
I don’t look for monsters under my bed, I look for him
Haunted by the fragments
Of what is past
And who;
They say you can’t fall in love
With memories but look at how many
Do;
An anchor tying your waist
To the biggest lake of
Regret;
And you’re drowning in your words
Wondering if anyone will
Forget;
Then finally, your face bursts through,
Breaking past the
Surface;
Just because you are lost, does not
Mean that you don’t have
Purpose;
The first chapter of a book
Is never close to the final
Pages;
So put away your past and
Shatter all of your mental
Cages;
You’re stronger, so much
Stronger than the pulsating
Tide;
And when the going gets tough,
Remember that I am right by your
Side;
--
I’m so alone, darling
Loneliness is magnified
In quiet rooms –
Fancy hotel suites with
Only one person warming the bed,
University dorms when your parents
Finally left,
When the beat of your heart
Is the only thing pounding in your ears.
--
Rouge No. 01
Lipstick stains covering
The left side of my still-warm coffee cup,
The rouge leaves its imprint
Better than I ever do.
Invisible in every sense of the word,
Yet my physicality always leaves a trail.
Wordless, soundless,
More like a ghost than a person;
If there ever comes a time
When you can no longer find me,
I’ll leave my lipstick on coffee cups
And know that I would have preferred
If I could stain your lips instead.
--
You were afraid, weren’t you? Say it aloud with me now, fear.
I remember when your fingers
Whispered into my hair
All the words you were scared to say
I remember when your mouth
Met mine in moments when we both
Needed an anchor to keep us afloat
I remember when your back
Became encompassed in goose bumps
Because my fingers traced their love
I remember when your arms
Wrapped around my waist bringing me back
To you when I threatened to walk away
I remember you softly stroking my legs
As you called my name over and over
So quietly, it mimicked breathing
I remember when you’d brush my hair
Out of my eyes as I fell asleep, your eyes
Memorizing the rise and fall of my breath
Its days like these when
I remember you.
--
Mending Fixtures isn’t fixing
You can’t mend people
Who would rather
Gaze at their reflections
In the shattered glass
Than glue the mirror
Back together