you taught me silence
in my childish exubrance
I played with you there in the driveway
the toys of our lost youth before us
and you looking much like a boy again
those were the days
when whatever thoughts I entertained
spilled forth from my mouth eagerly
like a child, never understanding
the negative reaction she hadn't expected
but now in the light of what was
I close my lips tight
to avoid spreading my heart for their lust
in the darkness he quietly whispers
that he just may have fallen for me
and I imagine my eyes sparkling
like twin diamonds on darkened pools
as I stare up at the ceiling
in the absence of light I can imagine it's yours
and the whisper beside me
travels on your own discordant breath
and something evil stirs within me
as I press my lips into a taught line
and roll over to face the wall
he is you and I am no longer in love
no longer writhing in it's strangling clutches
and with my silence I wordlessly tell you

"Go to hell. Go to hell
and take your epiphany with you."

but the arms that move to encircle me
are not yours, the breath
tickling my skin much warmer
than your entire being could ever hope to be
and so I press back
into that heated cavern of flesh
full and pulsing with life, brimming with love
the contrast between his content
and your self-imposed emptiness
bringing a small smile to my lips
and they part softly, baring a flash of teeth
you taught me silence
I no longer feel the need to shout at the world
to scream my affections and miseries
I smile and curl my small hands into his
loving, healing, and forgetting
silently.