I saved a spot for you
in the last of my hearts

I’ve tucked you away from nostalgia –
from memory’s mighty hands
that slap you to remember
all the lost years
and wasted tears
that could have been spared
by holding you

But how can we know
that it only takes one word
to knock the other off course
By which time we’ve unravelled
at the kitchen sink –
the place we’d never think
would mark the end, again

When did we make it okay
for love to misalign?
Crashing in and out of ourselves,
for partners and epochs
that could have been spent
curled up in a future
imagined with you

We say this is it
We are all there is
And we slide our misgivings
into pockets that protect
false affections and wicked agendas
Leading so many to surrender
to the wrong other

They’ve all taken up too much space
in my sunken hearts
I wish I’d known
a long time ago
that you’d been so close
poised and ready – just out of sight
Standing at the edge of defeat,
waiting to tell me that you loved me

It surprises me too
that I had one more spot
in the last of my hearts –
saved for you
Maybe for all the missteps we take in love,
we all do