Guiding hands arrange me like a puzzle

Shifting nothing into something

And life is easy as so, for a while

I want to remember the night it changed

I’m a liar if I say I can

In truth, it was always this way

Remember your smile, your laugh

Saying I need to do more

Singing sweet melodies

Telling me I’m not enough

Laughing and dancing in humid rain

Prescribed solitary in the sweltering heat

Our problems are easier when coated in the little things

And now that the little things have evaporated…

I’m not the same as I used to be.

The puzzle changed despite your guiding hands

And tears have wrinkled the edges and the pieces stick no longer

And dense, sticky pools of resentment have welled up, oozing from the middle.

When the pieces aren’t what you expected you cut them

You reshape them to your liking

Shaving off pieces of me.

I see it coming with no defense

Maybe it’s easier to just slip on the blade

Slices like butter now

Relieve the welt

The festering sore--

And mortally wound me.