Linda M. Crate- Three Poems

the raven who trusted for naught 

 

you told me you cared once

once upon a time,

but i should have known better

if something seems too 

good to be true

then it is;

and i was hoping that we'd be each other's

happily ever after

but you didn't want me

just the dream

the girl that you thought i was—

i was swaying in scars and insecurities and doubts

wild and unpredictable

you just wanted a girl who would simply stand

there and be your silent victim

who would never snap

her teeth in retaliation;

but i was

never meant to be tamed

i am a wild thing always meant to fly and dance

with wolves

i have hope and stars in my eyes

love and passion and fire in 

my soul

you can shoot your broken arrows through my heart

again but this time i won't cry

i'll just gouge your eyes

out with my

talons.

 

won't be tamed 

 

don't love you anymore

just a shadow

clinging to the maw 

of healed scars,

and maybe sometimes they rip open;

but the universe sews them back

shut

where one door closes

another opens and i'll always choose the ones

without you—

you weren't supposed to dance with me

nor i with you

you were disaster dancing on the tongue of demons;

but i rose from the flames like a phoenix,

and i won't make the same

mistake twice—

you eye me with the hunger of a wolf,

but i fly through skies

a free bird

because ravens won't be tamed for anyone.

your hands of winter 

 

in the darkness

of night

you left me scattered

in an endless winter

spring didn't come that year

until you broke up with

me,

and i guess nature knew that i needed

flowers and sunbeams to heal

my broken heart;

the moon and the stars helped

sew me back together

i found the words

that i thought had forgotten in your midst

you never let me be me—

always caged my desires and my heart

in a gilded spectrum

a cavalcade without stars or dreams or hope,

but now that i'm free

i won't let anyone entrap me like that again;

for i am wild and i need someone

who can withstand my flames

instead of trying to kill them because i'm 

passionate and i shine bright

for i am a moon child

and i refuse to be calm sometimes i must make

waves and crush everyone opposing me

in the fury of my wrath—

sometimes the peace must be broken

a war must come so that 

people know

you won't be taken advantage of anymore,

and i want you to know you've taken all i have to

give you;

i will only receive you in scorn

should you try to reach out to me with your

winter's hands again.