When I loved you
I gathered hope
into a basket.
I saved your smile,
your voice
your messages,
your kiss,
your letters,
your music,
all wrapped in
mingled memories.
I saved you,
an artefact of artifice.
On rainy days
you tumbled onto
the table of
my mind,
a shining
collection of what
was never real,
a perfect impression
of impossibility,
from a basket
of wasted dreams.
Shawn L. Bird 
Mmmm … we do that, don’t we? Collect all these things that were never real? Or were they? 😉
Ba Ba Buuuuummmmmmm! We think they’re real, but in retrospect, so often it’s all so much fog.
It is amazing when we look back at what we thought was so wonderful, lt really wasn’t. It takes time to see that. And now we know we are in a much better place:)
Kimberly
20:20 hindsight, as they say!
Very bittersweet.
It is, that’s true.
Beautiful Shawn. xx Hugs xx
Thanks
So sad and an almost bitter feeling to this, Looking back at events we can start to see them a bit more clearly can’t we. I always have been one to collect the small trinkets of love 🙂 Great poem.
Bitter. Realistic. Nostalgic. Rational.
that sums it up nicely 🙂
Reblogged this on Everything about love is here and commented:
Amazing post!!!
No. Not love. Infatuation, perhaps. Obsession definitely. Not love, though.
Well noted.. 🙂
Being “in love” it is a form of insanity. This is beautifully written Shawn.
Biologically, it makes people completely high on endorphins, so that functioning logically takes a back seat!
Oh those feelings are among the worst we can have. It reminds me of the letters I used to write on Magnolia leaves; they disintegrate alongside the memories.
Writing on magnolia leaves. Now there’s a poetic image!
I might still have one. There is enough room on a magnolia leaf to write a short story. I am probably the only dork that actually did it, but she thought the letters were great.
That is lovely. I used toilet paper once. Not nearly as poetic!
Favorite phrase: “an artefact of artifice.” The poem describes/illustrates very well how we make someone the object of our affections rather than our beloved. Nicely done.
Or confuse the two, perhaps. Like that line floating about Facebook that goes, “never make someone a priority in your life if you are not a priority in theirs.”
Reblogged this on CalmYourTit.
I think they are real at the time and it changes. I have to believe that otherwise I could never give love a chance again. Beautiful post! Oliana
Good point.
Reblogged this on TheRockySummit.
You know, I have been with many men, and I must repeat, I AM NOT A SLUT, but I have kept many items which remind me of each certain individual. It is usually something which really stands out as ‘them’ versus someone else. I will hold on to all sorts of mementos until the relationship fizzles out on its own, and then in my ever neat way, go through all the items and find one or two items which really sum up the relationship. I am not a hoarder or scrap-booker, so one or two small items is all I keep in one of the many little boxes I collect.
As I have gotten older, I have summed up this about all my past relationships and marriages (2): None of them were a waste of time; each taught me something about human nature; about myself; helped me grow; and offered me a chance to see the world from the other side of the coin.
This experience, good and bad, really helped me when I worked as a paralegal in Family Court, and while working as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the court. I saw the mother everyone was so sure was a meth head as a woman who had undergone a lot of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband and ex-boyfriends. I took this woman to coffee and saw she had never been in a coffee house. It gave me a way better perspective on her life and how to present her family to the court than if I would have been in a happy, or not so happy marriage, with children; or dating and feeling all young and pretty. In other words, I had lived some of her life, maybe not the meth, but I had lived other parts, and I understood how the system can classify so quickly, and decide life changing decisions about your children and you without even knowing who you are.
So, none of my relationships were a waste of time. I have also realized the one person I really loved, is the one who I can still talk to even though he is married; I am so happy he is married his current wife; and I am very happy for the life he has now. He would not have had the same life had we stayed together. That is love, when even being apart from the person, you are truly happy in your heart for the life they have without you, and can still be friendly to each other if perchance you see each other again.
My father’s first wife left him for his business partner, and he continued working for them for another 30 years. I asked how he could do that, and he said that he just wanted her to be happy, and if she wasn’t going to be happy with him, he wanted her happy with someone else. Mind you, it probably helped that he soon found a hot young wife and had the brilliant daughter he’d always wanted… 😉
Yeah, the second part probably tempered him a bit. But, seems he had the right train of thought. I know there were lots of times Tony and I would just sit and no words would fill the air, but it was okay, we were good friends, and we knew we didn’t need to fill the space. He always asks about my life, and I know he wants to hear I found a great man, but I can’t lie. But I hold no grudge towards his life, in fact, I find hope in his life.
Relationships are great until they aren’t anymore and it’s sad when partners have unrealized dreams.
Ellespeth
or realized ones, that don’t include the other person
or awareness of desires, that don’t match other person’s
or…
(that’s life!)
etc. !
Ellespeth
Wow, so beautiful. keep doing good work shawn. really liked it 🙂
Great! Thank you!
This one and “Bravery” are a real one-two. Thank-you.
Glad you like them. I’d better come up with something really mushy for Saturday!