The way it is

I.
it is time for me to write a poem.

II.
You have receded like the gums of a vampire into the night you created by tearing down the moon. You have receded like the hairline of the bald man into the nowhere of discarded memories.
It was your own choice.

III.
The moon is waxing. Soon, i feel, it will be time for us to speak once more.

It will not be like old times.

I will not mince words. You know you fucked up. I know it, too. However, i have not been holding some hateful grudge- it is your own fear and your own guilty conscience that have made things the way they are. You know this is true.

This is not something that couldn't have been rectified had you wished it. Everything could have been different... but in the end, it wasn't, and we- she and i- are only better for it. Is this what you fear?

Is this what you've feared all along?

This is the monster you created- it vexes no one but you. This is the last thing you ever expected. Stars from Salt! Salt from Tears! A Love became a Hate; a Hate became a Love. The venom- Gone! The secret- Told!

i know what you used me for.
I KNOW WHAT YOU USED ME FOR.
i KNOW.

i know what you did to her.
i know what
you used me
to do
to her.

And the most inconceivable notion of all?
None of it matters.

IV.
You were in old books, in closets, in archives. You were more or less forgotten. You were a footnote to history, a footnote to her story; you were not all that important after all. You do not deserve the credit or the blame.
It was your own choice.
You chose this.
You walked away.
None of it had to be like this.
Do you understand?

None of it had to be like this, your bad behaviour notwithstanding. Things could have been different- but in the end... they weren't. It makes me sad- but only because i know what you could have had.
Only because i know what you left behind.
It makes me sad, but only because i know what you've missed out on.

You've missed out on a lot.

V.
the whole is greater than the broken halves.
more beautiful than it ever was before.
you were only the tuning fork.
she is beautiful. i have known her for a long time.
i think i may have known her longer than you.

she is beautiful
and she shares her beauty, now,
instead of her sting.
and i share with her
what i was willing to share
with you. with anyone
who wanted it.
what i gave
freely.

it could have been
so different.

but
it is still beautiful.
we are beautiful
without you.

we are ink
on the moon,
we are stars
in a shoebox,
we are smoke
on the water.
we are witches
in the darkness
we are Goddess
in the sunlight
we are the earth
we are the ocean
we are violet
we are indigo
we are blue
we are green
we are yellow
we are orange
we are red.

what are you?

this is what you have left behind.
this is what has flourished without you.
this is blood from a stone.
this is a flower in the snow.
this is life from the void.

VI.
Soon, it will be time for us to speak once more.