I wish I could stop caring as easily as you
were able to do
but I care more each day still
I suppose I should have listened
when you told me
amidst all your words of love
that you only really cared about yourself
and nobody else mattered very much
even as you whispered such sweet words
that filled my world with light
I suppose I should have listened when you told me
that you were selfish to a fault
but I didn’t hear
I heard only the gentle sounds of love
of longing, of desire, of bliss and elation
I heard only your promises of devotion
I suppose I should have harked when you said
that you were mercenary
unbeholden to anything less than
raw egotism
but I did not
I wanted to believe in you
in love, in passion, in gentle kindness
I wanted to believe in all the other —
sweeter things — that you whispered
I wanted to believe that you were not so cruel
and I’m damned because
I still do