Under the surface

The whiff of varnish locked within closed doors;

Curtains starched, pride suspended stiffly against walls monochrome.

Sprawled over wooden floor, in the word game I count our scores.

Our words lie crumbled as rubble within the structure of bricks and stone.

We moved in with new quilts for comfort,

Yet brought in a handful of sleepless nights.

Behind layers of exquisite rouge I hid the hurt

as you chose to feign indifference to fights.

Afraid of rejection, my lover,

of losing the game of pride in chess.

We lost out on each other

and silence gave way to emptiness.

Scratch out my painted walls;

let my plaster chip off as I hide my face.

Hold my hand as the needle of time crawls,

till we learn to heal together at the place

that we had decided to call home.

The life in us has never been in need of a plan.

My love, let us shed the fear of being alone

as long as we love in the best way that we can.