Oppressed

You can't see that I am oppressed
Starving for love and nurturing
That you cannot provide to me
I have become a broken vessel
Aimlessly wandering in and out
Of fragmented chapters of this
Sad and dark love story
In truth I have no help left in me
And I don't know how to fix it
Too weak to take hold of what we had
Built on the very fragile foundation
Where we promised for better and worse
My hope for us is not unshaken
Surely you are enduring the same suffering
You can't see that you too are oppressed

5.31.14
©Kerri L. Stanley

So I Can't Expect You to Know

So I can't expect you to know
That I am teetering on the tight rope
Searching for fragmented answers
To these questions I have in lost hope

Time has worn us both out
And our love discontinues to grow
You've forgotten I still have needs
So I can't expect you to know

I feel like I'm standing still
Letting this life pass me by
Missing what we once had
Sharing lows and not enough highs

So I can't expect you to know
And I'd never expect you to change
But I can no longer balance this way
Feeling trapped like I'm locked in a cage

I can't do this at all anymore
But I can't figure out how to go
Please let go of the rope, lest I fall
So I can't expect you to know

05.27.14
©Kerri L. Stanley

Hope

She didn't tell him what she was thinking 

It seemed insignificant anyway,

To remind him of what he's not bringing,

While her love for him keeps weakening,

And keeps pushing her farther away.

For it finally did die today,

Found courage to be not afraid,

Lost moments in eyes unsmiling,

New plans will be carefully laid.

For her needs she will gladly trade,

For the hope she is now aborting,

Her heart to him she would have bade,

Clinging to the love they had made.

For this love lost in dark abandoning,

A different time when she might have stayed,

If she thought he would have been trying,

She'd stand with him another day.

But she can't stop the tears she keeps crying,

While her thoughts go unsaid, now breaking,

05.12.13
©Kerri L. Stanley