Did you think of me while you were in her?
It unraveled me to know
How could you move on so quickly?
It taints my memory like a stain
I can’t say it aloud; there’s no need
Now, your sweetheart sits, attached to the memory of you
To the way that I remember you
In the way that I remember us
Sweetheart
That’s the hardest part
It wasn’t just one night, or how quickly you moved on
It’s that now, when I do think of you,
the way you’d look at me or the way you’d say my name
Something about it feels heavy
The memory of cracking your knuckles, knowing to skip one whose pop was too sharp
Sweetheart
You thought I would never know
That it would mean nothing
only one night
white sheets, closed curtains
The irony of a hotel in your city
It would be forgotten by morning
Sweetheart
It meant everything to me
I would never wish the pain of such realization on another
Sweetheart
I protected the good in you and clung to the thought that this was for the better
You did this for the better.
Sweetheart
You have tainted every memory of us
Was it real?
Did you love me in the ways I loved you?
fully,
patiently,
in the staying?
Now, I wonder the reasons you left
Why wasn’t I enough to stay
Sweetheart
I know
I am not easy to rest with
I feel deeply, and I want the things you fear
Sweetheart
I was real
I was not temporary
I realize the simplicity now
My place in your life
I wasn’t important
I question how I could have felt so intentionally while you were timing your exit carefully
Sweetheart
I don’t feel the same anymore
I loved you with no plan
Sweetheart
The scariest part wasn’t losing you
It was the loss of the version of me who believed love was enough
So much in me has shifted because of you
Sweetheart
Would you want to be loved by you?
I ask myself this when I feel bitter
Because the answer has been yes
To love is a gift
But to be loved?
It is genuine and abundant
It never withholds, it gives all that it has
I did that with you
I want to be loved that way
Sweetheart
Would you?
Would you wish to receive the love you give?
Only you know
Sweetheart
and even now, after it all
I hope you never miss me the way I miss you
I know that you don’t
I would never wish you such ache
Even now,
sweetheart
I wish you everything and more
Everything that you couldn’t find in me.
You’ll look for it in her
Sweetheart