Cleft Heart
Early October when the bomb went off,
Tearing us apart.
A brother here, a sister there.
Scattered across the globe.
Like the shock had made
Roots suddenly disappear.
Wandering to find them again.
Something to anchor me to life,
And something to pretend
That none of this ever happened.
It was like walking under a tree
Green burning bright
Like a star in the night.
Until it drops its snow
Right down your back
And your spine inverts itself.
The snow no colder than
The snowball fight earlier.
But never expected.
I never expected any of this
I trusted you,
I loved you.
But after you left,
We didn’t talk for months.
You didn’t understand that.
How could you think,
Nothing would change between us?
When you tore my heart right out.
I was a child,
Not a liver,
I’m not that resilient!
Are you stupid?
Or can you just think
That wishfully?
Couldn’t you have thought wishfully,
About her too?
Build her up in your mind.
Something better than she was,
Instead of leaving me all alone with her,
The only boy around.
We were six!
Then just three,
Only boy was me.
Brothers dug for oil,
Money for their toil.
We all got new family.
Pretend it’s normal
This prefix ‘step’ for everybody.
A monosyllabic word for ignorance.
Did you have stinging nettles
In the corners of your mind,
Shrouding your secrets from yourself?
I didn’t know what a man was!
How could I instantly become?
I guess you didn’t know either.
I found a new father,
He’s never let me down.
He’s unshakeable.
Yeah we talk now,
About the weather,
And the price of gas.
But it will never be the same,
I can’t think that wishfully.
I won’t struggle to get as close.
You used to hold me close,
Just to be near me,
I treasure the memory.
It was twelve years ago you left,
Twelve years with a cleft heart.
When you changed the definition of home.
I’m trying to be eloquent now,
But all I can think of,
Is just how much it hurt.
Copyright © Vaughan Wesley | Year Posted 2018
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