Because I Didn’t Know What To Do

Because I didn’t know what to do with them

I placed her words in a box.

Sometimes, I take them out and look at them

Turning them round and round in my hands and my mind

Trying to make sense of them

Will that day ever come?

Still no answer.

Or if there is, I can’t admit it, even to myself

Without my world falling apart.

So I continue as if nothing has changed,

Because I can’t allow it to.

It’s like a picture puzzle with one piece missing 

And you look under the table, sweep the floor, shake out the rug,

But it’s not there

Finally, you understand that someone must have carried that piece away with them.

You don’t want to throw the puzzle away,

In case they someday find that piece, 

Absentmindedly stuffed into a pocket,

And decide to return it,

So you put it up on the highest shelf

And wonder what to do with it every time you pass.