Poem: 'Needling' by Heather Dawson

'Needling'

By Heather Dawson

I stopped dreaming about you

About the time I realized

That I could love deeply with out pain

You are not mine to mourn

I am an echo of your past

But if it makes your spirit move faster

I’ll forgive you to the last

I should have told you

That I was happy

That you helped me

see the crumbling facade I had accepted as truth

You helped pull the real me from the skeleton scaffolding

But I was never good with boundaries and so once again

I let my self get lost in you

Eaten whole by your nature

So as I forgive you across the divide

I pray,

Give me the same small, courtesy

I had not the strength to stand tall,

So I gave that job to you.

I handed you my person

And, being young and curious, you tested my flesh and mind to see how far I would go...

I no longer give up my power

And anyway ... he wouldn’t take it