How do you rebuild a relationship
To someone who has forgotten its entirety
Where mental illness has shoved and forced
And replaced your memory with its pain
Should I start with my name
That crumbles like broken clay
When it crosses my mind
Because it was yours, too
Do I begin with November
When it felt like bone cracking in my chest
As I sobbed alone in the choir room
After your first attempt
My silent promise
Backed with 16-year-old determination
Vowed to show that you are loved
That life is worth living
How do I attempt to conjure up
Our hour-long walks at the island
With you pulling my hand to
Climb the gnarled driftwood
Could I even muster up the words
To tell you that the guitar in my corner
Reminds me of how your hands tentatively
Moved across the same glossy exterior
Should I show you the videos of us
Sick with dizziness at midnight
As we spun endlessly
On a long forgotten merry-go-round
I have scoured the depths of language
But watch the words petrify in amber
As I perpetually fall short of
Reviving who we once were
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Email Sam Nolan: Samantha.nolan@pepperdine.edu
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