The Painting

The painting hanging on the wall

With its multicolored hues

Brings forth an evocation of the time

That I spent loving you.

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The warm tones speak to the love

The laughter and the joy

The wonder of the life we created

Our beautiful baby boy.

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The yellows speak of our optimism

Our hopefulness in a future we’d both enjoy

The love of a life well lived together

You, I, and our little boy.

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But as I look towards the bottom of the painting

I see the flecks of brown accumulating

The waves of envy were mine I fear

I became too interested in me.

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The blacks are perhaps the most dominant colour here

They remind me of how I felt when you walked out

The grief and loneliness were mines to bear

After all, those feelings were my own fault.

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You ask why I keep this painting here?

The one that shows what I’ve loved and lost

It’s in case I begin to pity myself

And blame others for what has come about.

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I keep it to remember the joy I once shared

With my two favourite people in this life

It’s to remember what I did to them

The damage was done to more than just one life.

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I hope to live and love again

With someone who looks on me tenderly

And I keep this painting so I know what’s at stake

If I once more, become too absorbed in just me.