Collateral Damage: A poem about my first love and first heartbreak

Collateral Damage

You came into my life unexpectedly,

The both of us were so young

Fiery

Passionate

Maybe a little naive

I wanted to heal you...

Over the years, you let your guard down

And so came mine along with it

I saw the universe in you and fell in love... with every fiber of my being

“I’ll love you forever.”

She whispered, as she gazed into my eyes

And stared into my soul.

Fiery

Passionate

Young love turned into betrayal

Hurt

Manipulation

Control

A trauma bond.

It was familiar...

It’s what we knew;

Children laughing,

Crying,

Playing with fire

My lack of trust in you,

My impatience turned into control and criticism

Our words cut into each other like knives

Children playing with fire, yes,

But it burned so brightly...

You shined light onto all of my shadows

You knew me like the back of your hand,

Reading me

Like a map of the universe

Speaking a secret language only we could understand

The language of love

And somewhere along the way, things got lost in translation

Like a train running off its tracks

Crashing

You were my collateral damage

Losing you came from a place of misalignment

A trauma bond mistaken for love.

You were my collateral damage.