Burn

I saved every letter you wrote me

From the moment I read them

I knew you were mine

You said you were mine

I thought you were mine

Do you know what Angelica said

When we saw your first letter arrive?

She said

Be careful with that one, love

He will do what it takes to survive

You and your words flooded my senses

Your sentences left me defenseless

You built me palaces out of paragraphs

You built cathedrals

I’m re-reading the letters you wrote me

I’m searching and scanning for answers

In every line

For some kind of sign

And when you were mine

The world seemed to

Burn

Burn

You published the letters she wrote you

You told the whole world how you brought

This girl into our bed

In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives

Do you know what Angelica said

When she read what you’d done?

She said

You have married an Icarus

He has flown too close to the sun

You and your words, obsessed with your legacy

Your sentences border on senseless

And you are paranoid in every paragraph

How they perceive you

You, you, you

I’m erasing myself from the narrative

Let future historians wonder how Eliza

Reacted when you broke her heart

You have torn it all apart

I am watching it

Burn

Watching it burn

The world has no right to my heart

The world has no place in our bed

They don’t get to know what I said

I’m burning the memories

Burning the letters that might have redeemed you

You forfeit all rights to my heart

You forfeit the place in our bed

You sleep in your office instead

With only the memories

Of when you were mine

I hope that you burn