poems inspired by folklore

Exile

Don't say my name like that

Not as you're walking out that door

Be gentle, be kind

Leave my heart on the floor

So I can pick it up when you're gone

And when you leave

Don't turn around and say my name

One last time

Like you mean it

Because I'll be running back into your arms

For you to take back my heart -

To take back what you really own

Don't say my name like that

Not as you're crying on the floor

Begging me to stay when,

For so long you had me

And you took it for granted

Ask me why I'm doing this, why I have to go

I only have one answer for all your questions now

And for all the questions you will ask yourself

After my departure -

It's time.

Don't make it like it's my fault

Don't make it like you had not thrown the plates,

Like you had not burned the house down

When it wasn't easy

I was ready to give you everything -

My time, my mind, my home, my life

I was ready to etch our names on our shared graves,

I was ready to turn to ashes with you

There was no fleeting moment

In my head, you were the one

Don't make it like it's my fault

Don't make it like you hadn't raised your voice

And tore my eyes out crying

Like you hadn't cocked the trigger back

Like you hadn't made me feel weak

Whenever it was easy

I was ready to give you anything -

My lips, my days, my nights, my child

But some of us have to grow up sometimes

And every moment started to feel fleeting to me

I'm sorry you hadn't felt it, too

But you can't point a finger at me

When you should have known

Don't make it like I could have known

I was ripping my hairs out trying to love you

Blowing candles out after every accomplishment

Turning stones that once, not long ago, I thought would go unturned

You were every every dawn that broke the night

Every move I made was for you

But now my chess board is torn apart,

Pieces scattered on the floor

Promises unkept, hair unkempt

Starve myself for fifty days

Trying to find an answer

Don't make it like I could have known

I wouldn't want to be with you in the end

The promises may look broken, but all of them I meant

A candle burning long enough is bound to melt

And when it does, it hurts - it stings

First and second and third ring

You can't say I wasn't trying

When the whole time I was with you I was dying

To know where we would go, where this would lead us

But we were so blinded by love, neither of us knew

That all the roads we walked on were leading us away

Don't paint me as the bad guy

You were every eleventh hour wish

Every clock stopped when you left me

Now the house we build is cold and haunted

A deserted kingdom where even ghosts

Don't go

Don't paint me as the bad guy

I loved you every single day then

I'll love you even in my death

The house we built has long been cold and haunted

You just couldn't see that in a home like that no man

Can stay

Read more poems like this in my poetry collection "If I Can See You When I Pass Away." You can order it via https://aidanbernales.carrd.co or through my social media accounts: aidanreuel on IG and Facebook.