Lessons It Took Me Too Long to Learn

A News Response Poem

I wanted to believe you
not because the story held
but because I did not want to believe
you were a liar
I did not want to admit
the storm would circle back again

You lied
and I felt the ground shift
Still I stood there
as if the cracks in the earth
could seal themselves

But lies do not stay buried
They rise like floodwater
They sweep through towns
They topple bridges and fences
They soak everything in their path
until even the air tastes of ruin

The truth came anyway
like fire breaking through timber
and I saw myself
standing in the wreckage
still holding your words
like a roof already caving in

Now I know
once the earth has broken
it will break again

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