Exile

A poem

I’m torn, where you ripped me at the seam
Before you banished me
Blinded, and bricked away
To be forgotten

I’ve kept to silence
Pretense, at absence
No one wants to hear me bleat
So I cage my pain behind closed teeth

Something we both do,
To spare ourselves a surfeit of suffering
But I know there’s an echo out there
To this hurt

Is it not punishment enough
To miss your smile?
Or be privy to your laugh
And the fire of your mind?

Was I too much? Not enough?
Were my feelings for you too spare
To overthrow my flaws?
Is the answer to make me hurt as much as you do?

I know I disappoint you
I’ve witnessed your wrath
One does not forge such mettle as yours
Without flames burning hot inside

You’ve no need of your walls with me
But I abide beyond them
Resident in limbo
Emotionally akimbo

We sundered one another
You struck your mark
I bleed and wait, and wonder
Will you lodge another bolt?

The last remains where it first struck
A memento of truth
I will never remove
And cannot ignore