Jodi Lee evokes heartache and disillusionment in this conflicted poem.

Tíng

A shadow of a hand holding a wilted flower

停 (tíng): to stop or cease in Chinese





Sheep in wolf skin

or is it wolf in sheepskin?

Which are you – exactly?

I’m afraid

I still can’t decipher.

My love for you

made me blind,

to the signs

of red you painted

Making me regard them

as small, minute traits

that everybody inherently has.

The words you spoke

The intent behind

Shone forth in between

Those gleaming, calculative eyes

Your actions reflect little

Of the person you are

In reality

you are nothing

Like the illusion I spun

But now that I’m older

And a teensy bit wiser,

I see that I once yearned

For someone, or rather

A figment of my imagination

Rather than the person

You really are.





Image: dilan archive via Pexels


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