Selfish
Thato Gumede 2003 (Gauteng)
Selfish
I see your reflection in every place
On my bathroom mirror, the shiny pots in my kitchen
But most of all, on the glass door of Simon’s café
That’s where we met remember?
I didn’t even know your name
I didn’t know how much you would mean to me
But we collided
Two hearts from opposite worlds smiled at each other
And history was made
But you’re not here anymore
You left only your ghost
And every time I reach out, he disappears
I heard you have a son now
I wonder if you’re happy
Because I’m not, I can’t forget
And sometimes I wish you can’t too
Because that would mean you still think of me
And our epic love story
I’m happy for you
Even though I live everyday with the fear
The fear of the news, the heart-breaking news
Of you finally tying the knot,
I keep an emergency kit
Specially for that day and the ones after
“That ship sailed”, people tell me
But I still see it clear as a day at the end of that dock
Oh what I’d give to tell you again how I love you
I’m in love with you
I never knew just how much
Until I was left picking up the pieces
You know I think of saying it out loud
But then people won’t understand
Because they never cared for our love
Until we watched Happiness slip out the back door
We fought, how we fought
To bring her back
“We don’t work.” You spoke
And I was forced to confront all that I tried to ignore
But if we tried hard enough, maybe that would be our son
We’d name him Brian
He would be a happy soul, our anchor
I can’t ask where we went wrong
Because we ignored it until the very end
We forgot love and embrace
We forgot to see
I hope you’re happy
But I hope you still think of me
Because that would mean you don’t love her like you did me
About this poem
This poem is about an epic love story that ended, it is written from a point of view of a former partner who's heart came to a standstill after the break up. Not being able to feel for anything except what's in the past. The title 'Selfish' came from the former partner who is wishing the other one a happiness cut in half because as selfish as it is they still want to be number one on the former's best emotion list.
Written on August 17, 2022
Submitted by thatolove3 on October 05, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:45 min read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDXEXDXFXX XEXGEEGXXXXD EXGGXXXXCFXX XFBBDXXAEEEE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,736 |
Words | 350 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 12, 12 |
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"Selfish" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/143520/selfish>.
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