Don’t bring her back

I listened to the radio~

Thought I was bulletproof,

cool in that secondhand haze.

Years later~ghost voices crawl in:

“They were never worth the noise.”

Doubt needles my memory~

Was it mine, or someone else’s choice?

Rearview snapshots~

half-smile, half-lie.

I can’t name the moment

I started living someone else’s life.

Don’t bring her back~

don’t drag her through.

Those fragments still

split me right in two.

Was it stolen? Was it mine?

Hell if I know that track.

Don’t bring her back~

I’m not going back.

Found the disc at the wash~

no name, no claim, no case.

Could’ve been a friend’s,

could’ve been someone I never faced.

Left in the static~

Left behind, dust in the sun.

I took it home like a secret,

not sure what I’d done.

I was a child

in borrowed skin~

a wife in a house

that kept the light from getting in.

Don’t bring her back~

don’t drag her through.

Those fragments still

split me right in two.

Was it stolen? Was it mine?

I can’t retrace that track.

Don’t bring her back~

I’m not going back.

Rich man’s chains~money unused.

Paid in silence,

paid in how I moved.

Heart wrapped tight~

too safe to breathe.

Searching for light

with my hands up my sleeves.

Don’t bring her back~

don’t pull me under.

These echoes still

split me wide as thunder.

Was it borrowed? Was it mine?

Don’t ask me to unpack.

Don’t bring her back~

I’m not going back.

Clouds drift, towns fade.

The reel keeps spinning.

Rub my eyes~shake my head.

Don’t bring her back.

~Jessi #reminders #memories #life #thoughts