Some bridges are better off burning
Leaving the past buried beneath ash and embers
Smoke drifting away from the devastation
Like fading memories
-gws
Bridges
Category: Meetings and Partings
To Thine Own Self Be True
This above all
To thine own self be true
But damn
Is that a hard thing to do
I want to hold
To my own principles
To set firm my jaw
And without a pause
Hold firm the ground
I'm planted upon
But when I say no
You refuse to move on
Turning my insides
Upside and down
Knitting my eyebrows
And causing a frown
Why is honoring me
Such an ask
It's not like I'm begging
Some outrageous task
I'm asking for only
Mutual respect
Yet you recoil
As if you were decked
Leaving me feeling
Like I've caused you harm
While my heart is rattling
My chest in alarm
Now I'm a monster
For making my needs
A priority which
Leaves you aggrieved
One day soon
I will disavow
Ownership of
What's forced on me now
I will figure out how
To my own self be true
And with peace in my heart
I will leave you
-gws
When I Met You
When I met you
You were charming
But nowhere near perfect
You were charismatic
But endearingly flawed
You were looking for a party
But you accidentally found a home
When you met me
I was unapologetically myself
But I was naive
I was willing to take risks
But not necessarily with my heart
I was looking for experiences
But accidentally found connection
What I didn't know
Was what a damaged soul looked like
What I didn't know
Was that you were a blackhole gobbling the light
What you didn't know
Was I was a whole universe
What you didn't know
Was divine light cannot be devoured
We didn't begin as we ended
We started as a soft glow
Hopeful and carefree
I couldn't tell you when
I think the inferno began
I became the fuel that you would burn
Trying to fill your infernal yearning
The gaping emptiness inside of you
With a meaningful light
That once was me
I thought if I loved you enough
I would somehow be enough
To sate your appetite for more
But all you were was an insatiable maw
And I a blazing star
Who's fire was never bright enough
Who's light could never warm you up
Because black holes cannot be quenched
They can only demand - MORE
So I became a comet with a star at its core
My corona full of survival and fury
Breaking free of your event horizon
I would not be devoured by your darkness
Now no light surrounds you
You have consumed all else you had
Nothing orbits you but cold and quiet
The space around you dead
When you met me
We had hope we could love each other well
When I left you
Was to heal from just how far I fell
But I'm a girl with phoenix wings
And a star within my heart
I blaze a trail across the sky
As I make a fresh new start
-gws
Ritual of Returning and Release
I sit in my silver armor upon my golden throne
Light streams in through my temple's high windows
Painting the floor below my dais in deep lavender beams
The temple is quiet and familiar and mine
The doors to the chamber open and he enters
Shadows trailing from his shoulders
Like a cloak woven from smoke
He strides forward
Until he is stopped by the barrier of lavender light
We lock eyes with each other
He kneels upon the stones
A gesture of only minor supplication
For his eyes never leave mine
I close my eyes and breathe
I feel the gauntlets release from my wrists
The greaves from my legs
The chest plate and chain mail
The weight of them suddenly gone
I open my eyes and watch as the armor becomes dark smoke
Passing through the boundary
Returning to him
I do not need protection any longer
The silver collar releases from my throat
Then the silver circlet from my brow
And last the silver band upon my finger
The weight of him removed from me
Cleansed and returned to his keeping
My eyes return to his
Now he breathes deeply and black smoke flows from him
As it passes through the lavender boundary
The smoke becomes like liquid gold
A delicate gold filigree pendent alights above my heart
Glowing with a quietly fierce fire
I can feel a gentle thrum as it syncs with my pulse
Upon my head appears a grand and golden fiery crown
Radiating strength and power
Pulsing with each breath
Now restored, these symbols of my power blaze to life
Burning away every shadow in the temple
Returning the quiet fire to my eyes
His shadows retreat as does his gaze
He bows his head once
This ritual of returning and release ended
I watch as he rises, turns, and retreats
He disappears back through the temple's doors
They close silently behind him
Tethered together no longer
I sit in my power
Whole again and free
-gws
Love is Not Enough
"Love is not enough"
This was a truth I gave you
In place of a kiss goodbye
Love is not enough to bridge
The chasm separating us
Neither is it flexible enough
To withstand the tension
It cannot rewrite our history
Erase the years of pain
It cannot alter reality
Nor save our unsalvageable marriage
The love between us is a shadow
A wraith
A remnant
Of a hope dressed up to look like love
In third-hand threadbare finery
The illusion shattered
And the real state of things exposed
-gws
Unlearn
I need to unlearn your touch
The sound of your breathing
Next to me in the dark
I need to unlearn a lifetime
Of everything about you
-gws
The Cage
Inelegant and rough hewn
Invisible to all but me
Oppressive and injurious
This prison of grief and fear
Holds me fast
Arrested
The key to joy held tight in my hand
I wait for the guard to look away
So I can fly free
-gws
The Rocky Path
I’m walking between worlds
Both in a nightmare
And waking from one
Navigating the rocky path
One footfall at a time
Calling on my ancestors
Those women who each
Did the same in their own way
As I step out of darkness
Into the healing light of freedom
-gws
Burn
I sat in the flames as it all burned down
Trying to douse it with tears
But now I see things for what they are
And I step back to watch it burn
-gws
Learn to Say Goodbye
I see the grief in your eyes
As the carefully crafted reality you made
Starts to fracture into a cascade of spiderwebs
The part of me that still loves you
Wants to comfort you
Tell you that everything will be ok
But I cannot do that
This disillusionment is necessary
And being trapped inside your bell jar
Has nearly ended me
I will not forge you a new one with false hope
That I am still your refuge
Because this all must end
You must face the world
On the other side of the looking glass
The real world where the damage you have wrought
Lays exposed before you
A cold world where you are finally alone
My heart breaks because it didn't need to be this
I wanted to love you
I tried to
But you didn't know how to accept love
And you didn't know how to give love
Because you don't know how to love yourself
You don't know what healthy love feels like
I feel the grief in my heart as I watch you
Watch your world unravel
I mourn for both of us
For the future that will never be
For the past so full of pain
For the love we both deserved but
That couldn't survive your demons
I did love you
I loved you so much, so hard
I forgot how to love myself
I grieve for all we are letting go of
I grieve along side you
As my hand slips from yours
And we learn to say goodbye
-gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 