Love Poem: Wars That Fight Against Themselves
Matthew Bailey Avatar
Written by: Matthew Bailey

Wars That Fight Against Themselves

I hesitated 
And the world collapsed under my supervision 
Some people rip open scars for romance
But I'm sweating like a sprinkler head at the chance 
Is it time to wear a cape and save the day?
Or are the only images I could conjure, the TV waves?
Besides, watching someone be a hero is almost as good as actually being one 
I'm a walking tape recorder of flirty whispers you used to shower me with
But what happened to it?
 
You left your smiles under abandoned highways 
If not all who wander are lost, 
Then what does that make you?
Lost in the ability to wander through ambivalent feelings 
For a rapacious man of many clandestine manic lines I call poetry 
Pick up a pen and map a trail of ink through a lost art
and you'll see what I mean

Am I the teacher if I'm proctoring a test?
Or am I the student cause I haven't mastered this yet?
But where did it go?
You tied a rope around those words and left them hung
The verbal sequencing of dripping roses off the tongue

Your sockets went wide like alligator eyes 
And did you think I wouldn't notice the crackling of your voice when you said goodbye?
Like the sound of burning wood 
Are you made of stone?
Your voice traveled fields, but still you stood
Am I made of glass? 
because my aching bones, you see right through 
You left your smiles under abandoned highways 
That are more overgrown than my sense of responsibility to protect you

But why did it change so subtly? 
And if not meticulously,
Then why did it falter so innocently?
The crusade of romantic fiction that flutters off your willing tongue
That's meant for me 
I want it back 
I want it back 
Let's write a book of your best quotes 
and make it nonfiction 
You poked the bear 
And so it’s growl swam the sea of trees 
and shattered winds
You left your heart on the chopping block but you let the axe swing 
I want it back 
I want it back!
You're a gem,
And I'm ready to surrender and kiss the ring 
I want it back 
I’m muddled at the way it ever had to leave 
The day you stop trying to appease me
Is the moment when my badge of hypersensitivity 
Breaks from my chest and flies away from me