Escape From Neverland

Sometimes a loss is a blessing in disguise.

It all comes back

In bits and pieces

Puffs of gray

And shattered songs

The way my heart caught

When you smiled

My blood singing through

My veins sparking out like

Fireflies in flashes of summer

 

Before you I dreamed

After I dared not close my eyes

But for the in between

I lived a thousand days

Of sun and splendor

I danced through evenings

Of song and stars

I was a candle made of gunpowder

Lit at both ends with

Treason and plot

And something I

Believed was love

 

I see you backed against

The night as summer

Turned to September

And fading sky

Speaking hope to a lost soul

Trying to fly to heaven

On the horns of a misbegotten angel

We were children of chance

And bitter roots and

You left me there

Dying from the cut of

Of your well worn cloth

 

Sometimes now when I feel

Summer rise I give myself

A moment to breathe you out

And remember

A man who is cruel once

Will be cruel again

You cannot blame a knife

For cutting you

 

I am better off without

The dreams shining in your eyes

And In the flicker of the

Lightning bugs I let you go

 

-Zoe Richardson (2020)

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Love that..."a candle made of gunpowder"

"you cannot blame a knife for cutting you" is absolutely true, especially if you put yourself at that knife point over and over....sometimes the pain and hurt just does not teach us a thing.

I like the lightening bugs, the flicker, the letting go.

I feel the end of a relationship here but also allusion to the traitor in the Garden, the Judas Kiss,
Jesus wondering why it had to be he to carry out this redemption thing.
we redeem ourselves sometimes by leaving...
Brilliant piece.
j.

[Zoe Richardson]

There is betrayal here. Although I think both of us were Judas in our own ways. I wish I could say there was redemption, but at least there was a valuable lesson. Thank you for reading and your kind comments!

[barleygirl]

This is poignant & powerful writing, to the extreme. I was completely immersed in how it can feel to recall someone beloved from the distant past, with all the scrambled feelings bubbling up so vividly (((HUGS)))

[Zoe Richardson]

Your kind words are much appreciated! Sometimes your only recourse is to write your way out of the confusion and scrambled feelings. If you're lucky, the results touch others and help them through!

[Chris Shaw]

You let him go, and if he was a cruel man, then you did the right thing, however painful the hit. Some great lines here Zoe. Enjoyed the read. Thank you.

Chris

[Zoe Richardson]

Thank you for reading! I am always amazed at the beautiful packages cruelty comes in, and how the beauty keeps you from seeing the knife until it slips between your ribs.

[Chris Shaw]

So true. Cruelty lurks where you don't initially see it.

[LostSage]

I hear the pain in this. my girlfriend pushed me off a cliff and the whole time I was falling I could hear her laughing. and guess what y'all I am coming back cause I want to go for a swim in that ceement pond. now miss Zoe please do and take care. yours truly... jeff

[Zoe Richardson]

Did she own the other half of your soul, then yank it away before you had the chance to join them together? This person was not my boyfriend, which made it all the more complicated and confusing.