Tonight's Poet Corner: Denouement

Denouement
by Belinda Roddie

You said you loved her
for the sapphires in her eyes,
for the embers still glowing
behind her smile, even when the
largest flame of passion had burned away.

You said you stayed with her
so she, like a flower, could stay
nourished and tended to. With each
petal that drooped, a new one grew
in with a kiss, though it was smaller
and more fragile than its already delicate predecessor.

You said she left you; you didn't
leave her. And when she did leave,
she broke the chandelier with a wail,
splintered the mirrors with a fingernail,
and left cracks in the wooden floor
with the small heels of her glass shoes.

After all, the sapphires were now dull,
and the fire had been restoked, forging
her anew into a whole new beast.
Meanwhile, your gaze was the color
of an onyx, and you sought out someone else
to share that union in a field of white roses.