Amelia James Poetry

Why is she the one
who wears the promises we made?
The vows I stitched to the sleeves of my skin,
all the futures I pressed into my palms,
carefully,
until he let them slip
like a breath caught too deep.

I wanted the life she gets to call hers.
I wanted the pieces he promised
but never gave me.
Instead, I stand in the ruins,
trying to find my way back
to something that was never meant to be.

Why is she the one
to get all the love he said would always be mine,
while I’m stuck in the wreckage
of something that never had a chance?

He spoke the words that could’ve made me whole
but turned them into lies, just hollow echoes.
I was the one who believed in the fantasy
he sold with each kiss, each “I love you.”
And now I’m left with the aftertaste
of all the things I thought were real,
but turned out to be just his game.

Why does she gets the parts of him
I bled for,
the parts he swore would always be mine?
While I’m still stuck, caught in the confusion,
of how he could take all of me
and leave only the pieces that never fit.

I wanted to be the one who had him.
I wanted to be the one who knew his soul
in the way she does now.
But she wasn’t the one who had to fight
through all his lies,
all the walls he built
between the truth and his promises.

And now, when I look at her,
I wonder if she knows
she’s holding the things I had to beg for.
If she knows
how much it cost me to believe
he was mine to keep.

Why is she the one,
who gets all the love he made me plead for?
While I’m still left holding nothing
but the ghosts of promises that never came true.
And maybe she’ll never see
how much it cost me to be left behind,
but I know. I always will.

-Amelia James