A Parting of Ways

His knuckles white with sentiment
for the love had long since died
but the pain of it was evident
as he held the rose and cried

She slipped away without a tear
as he helplessly lamented
His empty gestures all those years
half-heartedly presented

He had given all the things
they said a woman wanted
Flowers, dinners, sparkly rings
Now atop her vanity haunted

He did not know a life without
a lady left in waiting
One who would not cry or pout
from occasional berating

One who always jumped to meet
His every beck and call
One who felt a love so sweet
when it was not there at all

She had tired deep inside
of endless hope and trying
The man she chose to stand beside
silent and complying

She had been spent, ignored and used
yet paraded at his whim
and though her flesh was unabused
it may as well have been

She felt it in her body
when 'ere he cut her down
His manner cruel and haughty
like he scraped her from the ground

So with the clothes upon her
she told him she was leaving
She had never been so sure
her defiance left him seething

He screamed at her initially
mockingly he pleaded
She carried on officially
and his anger soon receded

She swung aside the heavy door
and there a car was waiting
He grabbed a rose, as to implore
but his tears, to her, were grating

She climbed inside the taxi
and felt a freedom grow within
Now he could finally see
what it was like to be with him

The Hand

Once extended in friendship 

the hand is now fractured

swelling and throbbing, 

black with annoyances 

blue with the facade.

The next visit a bandage

that will become ratty and brown

further infecting the break

the crippled hand is my evidence

my reminder that nothing lasts forever

The splint a restriction

doing nothing for the pain

only holding the bone 

in a crooked place

so that healing is moot

My stunted hand is weak

it cannot carry

it cannot lift

it cannot even wave

it simply dangles lifeless

helpless

This puppet hand 

wanting to grasp 

wanting to hold

wanting to feel

but failing at all tasks

This dead weight

unable to let go

unable to throw it aside

unable to rid myself of it

so dead it shall hang.