Member-only story
Poetry on Lit Up
The Love Belongs to You
No one else can protect you from this pain
Hearts don’t belong in another’s hands
I know that now — I gave my heart to you
Watched it rest there inside your cupped palms
And held that bloody pulp when you were through
I watched you wash the blood from clenched fists
I think you took that shame into your soul
Asked yourself why you ever caused such pain
When you were never meant to make me whole
All that time you wrung out my love
I know this now — I cannot place the blame
On you when I handed my heart over freely
Tasking you to protect me from this pain
But pain is love is pain is love — it’s true
Fragile human hearts can break and bleed
We’re vulnerable, I know, and that is why
I shouldn’t have tasked another with this deed
My heart healed — it doesn’t beat for you
The drumbeat I hear is now for me alone
Hearts shouldn’t be handed over to another
Love shouldn’t be another thing we own.
