Only a Story

If this was a story book,
We’d get together in the end.
We’d say we were meant to be.
I’d finally decide to bend;
And we’d get to say ‘us’- not ‘you and me.’

If this was just a movie,
There would be one more chance
Which one of us would finally grasp.
There would be some final glance
And we wouldn’t regret the past.

If this was a t-v show,
Each episode would seem so fun.
Each hour’s questions would be fixed.
Season’s end would make it done.
And our feelings would not be mixed.

If only it was. But it’s not- so…
Let’s say goodbye.
Let’s let it go.
Just tell me why
We’ll never know
What the ending
Was meant to be.
That ending just seems so-
So far from me.

But this just isn’t a book.
The questions will dangle on.
We’ll pretend the feelings weren’t there;
And someday they will be gone,
Since in real life we just won’t dare.

And this isn’t a movie.
The words we spoke can’t be muted.
The mistakes we chose we can’t rewind.
The unspoken thoughts can’t be suited:
So who knows if I change my mind?

This just isn’t a t-v show.
We won’t have a comforting phrase,
Nothing to confirm what we thought,
And no reason for the days
I spent wishing for what we fought.

This almost was a t-v show.
The plot was pretty clear.
It involved a girl and a boy
Who both chose to live in fear
And treated love like a tattered toy.

This really is a story,
But without the happy end
That we all so dearly love.
It leaves too few actions to defend,
And no shared mistakes to rise above.

This really is a story
That belongs in real life-
The only place it could be stood-
For it was cut up with a knife.
But I hope that in the end,
The characters are understood.

If only it wasn’t- but it is. So…
I’ll say goodbye.
I’ll let it go.
I’ll tell you why
You’ll never know:
Any happy ending
Must be worked for to be.
I guess that ending is just too-
Too far from you and me.

--Written by Sandy Heights