I learnt the shape of you
From across a room
Memorised it in secret
Listened to your voice like rain
Breathed it in like petrichor
I pressed your flaws
Against my skin like tattoos
(Never to be changed)
Folded our memories like origami
Paper cranes lining my window sill
❀
When I found out your heart
Was already moulded around
And entwined with another
I tried not to let the reality
Of it choke me
Tried to stamp out my love
As if it was only a flickering flame
Not a raging, relentless wildfire
❀
I saw you and her across a room
Tried to erase thoughts of you
In the private of my paperless room
Hid my failings in public
Covered the tattoos
With longer shirtsleeves
Prayed my heart would
Grow around another’s
❀❀❀❀❀
Entries to my 1.2.3. Challenge close on the 25th at 12pm AEST!! Don't forget to write a poem for it!
Also please check out the start to my new series:
About the Creator
Poppy
poetry in progress
The steps to losing a child
Step One: Lose a child. Not what anyone wants to happen and nothing you can do to change it, but you can go through steps to becoming happy again. You can go through steps to loving again. You can go through steps to become a new you because after losing a child you will never be the same person you once were.
By Tabitha Hinkley3 days ago in Fiction
Comments (25)
Loved this so much I have read it now three times.
Absolutely LOVE it!!! Now I'm like a child waiting for it's favorite show to make a new one LOL seriously I am waiting for your next one you have a way with words very talented and of course very intelligent 🤓
WOW! That was absolutely stunning Poppy! Outstanding job!!
Excellent effort! Keep up the superb work—congrats!s
There is nothing you write that I don't love. Next Mary Oliver?
great
And YES!! 😆… another well deserved Top Story! Looking forward to the next one 😉
“Listened to your voice like rain Breathed it in like petrichor I pressed your flaws Against my skin like tattoos (Never to be changed)” To breathe in a voice as if it’s petrichor is a truly beautiful image. It’s distant, like the lines before but says so much about the speaker’s feelings towards the “you,” that scent of refreshing sweetness. And then, it’s compared to the speaker’s wildfire love, a perfect complement of elements. This a spectacular piece, Poppy. Well deserved TS.
Truly amazing work
ooooh, my heart! This is so touching and real.
Brilliantly written!!! Love it!!! ❤️❤️💕Congratulations on Top Story too!!!
Back to say, congrats on Top Story!
Wow. This is excellent. Congrats on the TS
A Wonderful, heartfelt poem filled with emotion. Great work Poppy! 👏😔
Omgggg, this is the story of my life! It's been 10 years and my feelings have not faded. Loved your poem!
The tragic ubiquity & relatability of unrequited love.
Hi Poppy - You always Pop out the memories for me. I was the incorrigible folded paper-note passer across the classroom - evidence by my name inscribed on a Principal's office chair. 'j'
I read this so many times… I feel like we’ve all been there, at least I have - wanting someone that will never be yours but you expressed it so masterfully!!! Thank you!
Poppy, you bring a level to metaphor that is astounding. This is lovely, relatable, and extremely well crafted. Great job.
Beautiful, Poppy. Heartbreaking and relatable. “Folded our memories like origami” brings back such a vivid memory. A powerful metaphor.
Your words always move me deeply, on top of this being an exquisitely crafted and beautiful piece, the literary merit of this (and many of your pieces) is so solid. Thank you for this beautiful yearning piece.
Beautifully written
I love the brittle sharpness of the paper folds next to the sinuous, muscular bends of the heart of the other.
Beautifully written… hoping the ending comes true.
Damn, Poppy! This just drips beautiful...pain...that longing, wanting....unrequited love that seems to get us at some point or another. Love the whole idea of origami and folding around hearts...that's genius...and the tattoos of the other's flaws...just love the imagery so much. Always so creative and so emotive. Well done on this piece of painful, pretty art.