Settling The Score

That's how people separate

Handing back damaged goods

Lent in happier times

Items sometimes badly handled in shipping

Crumpled into a spiteful fist before returning them

Promises broken. Faith tarnished

Things entrusted to our care

But treated poorly in the process

Egos bruised. Commitments dropped. Words twisted

All the pages to our story dog-eared

From going over the same parts

Replaying how it started

And how we ended up here

 

That's how two lovers come apart

Cardboard boxes in arms

Permanent markers drawing a finish line

'Clothes'. 'Books'. 'Silverware'

But what do you label the pressed flowers, the movie tickets

The sticky notes left on the nightstand

And those drawings sketched on napkins?

 

That's how it has to go

Each taking their half of every broken thing

Severing ties to disentangle one from the other

Forsaking the old, the feelings gone rancid

As if relations truly were cemented by something borrowed

As if what was given was only out on loan

And now was time to pay

A steep bill, the long list of accusations

Blame no one is willing to shoulder

You can call all the time spent on me a damn waste

I'll scream back I'm the one who got ripped off

But there's no refund nor guarantee

Only a wedge driven like a nail to a coffin

A death bed made, ready to be laid in

 

Still, here we are, sharing one last look

Exchanging grudges and trading scorn

Settling the scores

With tight jaws and clenched fists

Each hoping the other hurts more

Taking steps back, a departure in slow-motion

Staring the enemy down

Like a duel in a western

 

It strangely reminds me of the first few dates

You'd say goodnight and we'd go our separate ways

But I'd always stop and turn around

Hoping you'd look back too

Now it's different

We're both leaving the other's life, walking backward

As if to sweep away footprints

As if I could unlove you all at once

As if you could undo every word, every touch

Every time you followed the same path in reverse

From the doorstep to my arms

As if we could turn into strangers again