Response Poem

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

One heart isn’t chained to another
I have no doubt that is true
Happiness is chosen
on the shelf of the self

But the world is full of vampires
like you and you and you.
You make it a virtue
to lean back and relax

You know that in time I will show up
wide-eyed with a bleeding heart,
unable to fight the illusion
of a potential convert

Days of hopeless boulders endured
in the eternal sunshine
Why, oh why couldn’t you
be better than the one I chose?