Hi, you're here. Thank you for attending our feast today.

Welcome to this little banquet we have prepared for you. We've done our best to
paint an immaculate picture of the miserably bittersweet love affair between our
poetess and her lover.

We hope you'll find it beautiful—or not. We hope you find something in it. But
whatever you feel about this, we hope it's enjoyable and at least provides a
pleasurable reading experience.

So, let's jump right in.

 ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

Hey mister, have I told you this?

That I’m in love with you

So bad that I can't breathe when you are near?

My nights are filled with thoughts of you,

My days I spend dreaming of your love

With hopes that you will open your heart to me.

I am a woman without love,

I am a dog who barks at every man

That knocks at her door of her heart.

But they say when true love comes

Even a barking dog because a docile lamb.

I thought it all to be a joke,

Until you came across my way,

And threw me into the fiercest tailspin ever.

James my darling, love me now.

My head echoes your name on daily basis.

On my palm is the carving of your face.

I can not think of a world without you,

I can not think without you,

I think of you when I think of anything else.

There's the image of your face right there in my plate of food,

Your baritone voice, the accompaniment to my dreams.

Your light, perfectly toned skin makes my thighs vibrate with desire,

My body has never felt so alive as when you're near.

I'm attracted to you like iron to a magnet,

I hunger for you like celebrities to attention.

When I open my mouth your name gushes forth,

When I turn around it’s your shadow I see.

My eyes are openly blind

And all I see is you.

My lungs breathe nothing

Other than the fragrance of your body.

The only meal I want to feast on

Is a kiss from your lips.

I want to be in your arms

And spend every night in your embrace.

Even inch of me longs for your touch.

Love me now my King,

Make me the queen of your domain.

I've fallen for you,

And I don't want to get up anytime soon.

 ACT ONE, SCENE TWO

I'm a broken cymbal,

Once bright but now submerged in darkness.

A decaying personality—

Detritus is my middle name.

I'm devoid of feeling,

Chapped off by years of abuse and heartbreak.

I'm a shadow of the man I once was,

I am the shell of a shell.

Don't waste your emotions on me,

For I can do nothing about them.

I'm like a penguin,

Flightless, lifeless, listless, soul-less.

I can walk but I'm a cripple,

I can talk but I'm dumb.

Nothing is wrong with my eyes, dear one,

But I am colour blind.

A hapless man I now am,

One who feeds on the bread of sorrow.

Is this really what you want, Stephanie?

Is this your idea of Prince charming?

Your call me your King,

But I have no dominion whatsoever.

You deserve better,

You're so much better than me.

I stopped living years ago,

Now I only exist: waiting for death to visit.

I wouldn't wish me on anyone,

So, don't love me for I'm undeserving.

 ACT TWO, SCENE ONE

Here I am again,

Broken and shattered by your coldness,

Dismayed by your distance,

Frightened by your arid looks.

But despite all that,

I believe in you and in us.

You may be a broken cymbal,

Let me be the calabash to gather your brokenness.

Let me be the glue to hold you together.

Let me breath life into your lifelessness,

Let my love flow through your veins and heal you.

My love is a river of warmth,

Yet you have taken to the hills at its approach.

Why do you turn away so sharply,

Each time I look at you?

You may have your demons,

But is that why you can't welcome an angel?

You’ve created a desert between us,

One waiting for a fire to be ignited.

My love, come, come let me fill your heart,

With the well that overflows with goodness and love.

Let me fill your brokenness with kisses of new birth,

Let the gurgle of living water quench your thirst.

I make appeal after appeal but you turned a deaf ear,

What else do I do to change this narrative?

Even the few times we spend together,

Always leave me wounded.

Your words leave me with the taste of gall,

It's like you are punishing me for the sins of another.

Why do I have to bear the lashes for a crime I know nothing about?

Why do you keep attacking me?

Why are you always in the defensive?

What will it take for you to just open your heart and let light in?

You don't even have to open the door wide,

All I ask is that you let it veer open an inch,

Just a crack in this stony facade and I'll take it from there.
Is that too hard to ask?

Why do you keep shunning all my advances

And throwing my love to the pigs?

It is not proper my love,

That you take the food meant for the children,

And give it to the dogs.

Your caustic behavior is causing me pain.

Every night I dream of the future we could have,

And then weep when I realize our present.

I cry myself to sleep when it dawns on me;

How stark and unpleasant,

Your refusal to make this dream come through.

 ACT TWO, SCENE TWO

What do you want from me?

What do you expect me to say?

How else should I spell it out?

Why won't you just get it through your thick head?

How do you keep expecting something I can't give?

Why do you expect water from a rock?

Why are you surprised that a shard of glass is abrasive?

How can you complain of bitter leaf not being sweet?

Why are you shocked that a rolling stone holds no moss?

Why weep when you see a wounded animal run for cover?

Why are you amazed that an abused soul is abusive?

Why won't you just leave me the heck alone?

You love me; maybe that's true,

But I don't see the difference.

You asked me to allow love revive me,

But how do you revive dead bones that hate life?

Love is a powerful force—

Maybe the most powerful of them all.

But love is my worst enemy,

And even love has its bus stop.

Even love can't make rain fall upwards,

Love can't give limbs to the serpent.

Love is just a four-letter word to me,

Love can't make this muscle right here, a heart of flesh.

Put your hands on my chest

And see that it no longer beats.

I'm on life support,

I don't want to drag you through this.

Don't love me; I'm built only to cause pain,

I'm damaged goods; profitable only for the trash.

In my defense; I did warn you,

Stay away or get run over.

Don't love me; you paid deaf ears,

Leave me to my brokenness;
Find someone worthy,

You refused to give heed.

You should have known better,

Some people are just not worth saving.

Now, see how you weep everyday.

Your efforts swirl down the drain like toilet paper.

You get broken bit by bit,

Each time you see me with a different girl.

If it's any consolation,

None of them mean anything to me.

Step away now before you become like me,

Save yourself for one who can give you something better.

I know the heart wants want it wants,

But in this case, the heart can't get what it wants.

I wish I could say I'm sorry,

I wish I could feel your pain.

But to be honest,

I'm not and I can't.

 ACT THREE, SCENE ONE

It is in the droplets of blood,

That I dip my quill to write this.

Blood I shed loving you,

Blood I shed for someone not worth a dime.

I should have known from the start,

Loving you is like a snake chasing it's tail.

Now my heart is racing faster Usain Bolt on the tracks

At the mention of your name.

Thoughts of you now fill my with anger,

Resentment and so much hate.

I thought my love would warm your icy heart,

I believed them when they said love conquers all,

Rather you sent me to the abyss of depression.

I should have known from the start,

That I was headed to the express.

I dreamed of our bond flowing in the ocean of love,

Blooming in an evergreen garden.

Now I’m feeding on shattered dreams,

But now I’m a wrecked calabash,

Cracked by lack of love,

Abused by the abused,

Broken by denial,

Dented by the absence of your presence.

I should have known from the start,

Dining with the devil requires a long spoon.

I cannot live again,

For death is better than a living hell.

I cannot love again,

For my heart is injected with hatred for all men.

I should have known from the start,

That you were the devil in disguise.

In my next world,

I will never love again,

For love is a curse—to receive or to give.

 ACT THREE, SCENE THREE

I know I took you for granted,

I threw your love to the trash,

I trampled your heart underfoot,

I caused you unimaginable pain,

And then I turned my ears away from your cries.

I know I smashed your will to smithereens,

Manipulating you like a puppet.

I pierced you through with many sorrows,

I dashed your hopes a thousand times,

I hurt you over and over again.

I know you expect an apology,

You expect me to say I'm sorry,

But I don't think I can do that.

Because in truth, I'm not.

All I can offer is an explanation.

I did what I enjoy doing,

This, now, is the only thing I'm good at.

This is what makes me feel alive,

This is the only way I know how to live,

Controlling people and making them wallow in misery.

You see, once, I was hurt beyond words,

Once, I was broken beyond repair.

My heart along with all humanity in me destroyed,

My soul died that day,

Living me hollow: a bitter, remorseless shell.

I tried to tell you this from the beginning,

You seemed a nice enough person

And I tried to save you from my world of pain.

But you refused to get the memo,

Preaching to me about love—the one word I hate with passion.

I guess it's true what they say,

Hurting people hurt people,

Broken people break people.

We are who we are,

And I ain't about to apologize for that.

All I can say is this:

I hope you find your feet soon.

You're strong and you'll be okay.

But if you never get to the place of healing,

Well, shit happens.

Hope you got the message in that short piece? Know when to walk away. It's not
every door that you must bang on. Love, sometimes, may not be enough.

Finally, don't allow broken people break you. Don't allow their negativity rub off
on you. Don't get sucked down into their vortex of pain and suffering. Choose you
first.

It's fine to try and help people, but don't let them drag you down with them. It's
easier for someone in a pit to drag you down, than for you to drag them out.

Just something for you to ponder upon.

From Pendullum and The Wounded Healer, peace.