A Memory Stuck Between Teeth

A poem about lost, unrequited love.

I hate to think about you as I pass a sidewalk too familiar with my feet.
I pass with crutches beside me and a memory stuck between my teeth.
Years and years have passed since those days of way-back-when,
and I can't help but wonder where on earth you have been.
I can’t go back, and I cannot walk those lonely roads,
and why would I need to? With Rose pedals below my toes?

I wonder how you are doing and if you ever think of me
as I drive past those trees and a distant memory.
You used to hold me up. You held my world together like glue,
and I spent years picking myself up, years until I grew.

You know, I thought I was in love with you
And I think there’s a chance you could have loved me, too.
However, life is not as simple as a one-two-three fix;
Turns out a life of love and loss is much more complex.

After healing from you, I loved much—much more,
and I lost thousands, like sand upon a shore.
I still wander and pass along those lonely roads.
Whatever roads a broken memory like the two of us holds.
I cannot take it back, and I’m not sure I want that,
but I wish, at times, you would have left me at the drop of a damn hat.

I’ve never written about it, though I have written about you before,
but, damnit, the way you left me hurt much—much more.
because, my love, you could have left me all at once
Without a second glance, no thought about confronts.

You didn't; you stayed with this look in your eyes—
a look that told me how deep your untold heart despised—
how deeply your heart and soul detested the things I say and do
and I swear that if you asked, I would have been able to let go of you.

I drove to the park today, and on my way home, behind and beneath,
There was an old run-down road and memories stuck between my teeth.
Sickly, potent flavors tangoed across my tongue, the bitter and the sweet.
I admit, however, I wouldn't consider the taste anywhere close to a treat.
Faded years and tears have passed since the days of me and you,
but I still think there’s a chance you could have loved me, too.