by The Cowl Editor on September 14, 2017
Poetry
by Sam Pellman ’20
Portfolio Staff
What had the potential to be the perfect summer instead turned into the summer of realization.
The realization that sometimes no matter how hard you try or how badly you want it, love just isn’t enough.
It isn’t enough right now, in this moment, but with time and growth it very well could be.
Three months had gone by since she saw him last. He had the appearance of a stranger, yet knew every little secret of her past.
It hurt to look at him, so she decided to look down. But when their eyes did meet, it was as if all the pain he had caused was suddenly gone.
“How did I let you go?” he whispered as the raindrops danced along the car windshield. But all she could attempt to mumble was “I don’t know…”
Tears leaked from his eyes, but surprisingly none from hers. She had drenched her pillow with messy tears and makeup for nights and nights; it seemed now they were simply dry.
He kept claiming he made the biggest mistake of his life. This normally would be her solace, but instead the words felt like a knife.
“But it’s too late…,” she said, her head in her hands. “I hope to God it’s not,” his voice said with a slight crack.
Her heart had formed a stone wall, it needed to protect itself. Yet, he could always somehow slip right back in and settle in the empty holes that begged for affection.
So he grabbed her face and kissed it hard, but her body was too numb to pull away. “That kiss feels like home to me,” is all he managed to say.
The rain was getting louder, the clock now almost said 1 a.m. The reality that this could be the very last time she saw him began quickly to sink in.
“I wish you the best, I want you to be happy,” she lied, pushing back the tears she now felt coming. “This won’t be the last time I see you, this isn’t goodbye,” he whispered, that sparkle she had missed twinkling in his eye.
Every ounce of him loved her and her heart could not help but feel the same. Yet, space and time is what they needed to understand love is anything but a game.
The world has a funny way of bringing back together what is meant to be. For when love gains back the strength it so desperately needs, the right person will be back at the right time; just wait and see.