Image by QUIXOTE.tv.zazzle.com
He was my last Valentine.
I told him, I have one relationship
- one last stab at hope –
left in me,
and I don’t have ten more years
to heal another broken
heart.
He nodded.
But he was sly.
He knew all the words,
and I never played "the game".
Later, it was revealed
he had two others on the string,
“keeping his options open”,
while he plied me with
sweet promises of forever,
leading me past the point
of healthy, instinctive fear.
I fell like a lemming off a cliff,
like a horse heading for the barn,
like a freight train to nowhere.
When he told me oh, so sorry,
he was "confused",
he "needed time"
(to try out the other two)
he was "confused",
he "needed time"
(to try out the other two)
he said he’d miss
my blueberry muffins.
my blueberry muffins.
Would you believe I made him
one last batch,
one last batch,
before I left his house that midnight
and drove the long road home?
Yes, of course you will totally believe it.
I got my revenge, though.
No, no poison in the muffins.
I lived on and got to be me.
He still had to remain himself:
a befuddled Quixote,
tilting his misguided lance
at all the pretty ladies.
LOL. For Rommy's prompt at Real Toads: Love Hurts.
Love can make us walk like lemmings off a cliff. But yes, the ultimate victory is finding we survive the fall and see we are still ourselves after we get up again.
ReplyDeleteGolly Sherry - your Don did not deserve those Muffins. A foolish heart is better than a deceitful one - polished with tears. this has to be one of my favourites - it too shines
ReplyDeleteVery nice, true to life write of not playing the game fair. My MIL used to say she wouldn't get involved or marry because she'd buried two husbands and couldn't afford to burry another man. My ex "needed some time." Yes with her new boy friend.
ReplyDelete..
They do say that living well is the best revenge.
ReplyDelete...made him remember how much he will truly be missing!
ReplyDeleteThe best revenge is success....and love the reference (an image) of Don Quixote :)
ReplyDeleteA brilliant title, Sherry, and, sadly, a familiar story. A warning to us all to stay clear of men who enjoy our blueberry muffins while tilting their lances at other ladies.
ReplyDelete"I lived on and got to be me." Aaah...Such enlivening and soul stirring words!
ReplyDeleteI lived on and got to be me/he still had to remain himself...
ReplyDeleteI'm still grinning from ear to ear at that. And the last stanza...his misguided lance waving in the breeze--lol
You could also hope that the muffins raised his cholesterol... I wonder if he realized how toxic he'd been
ReplyDeleteThis made me smile. It really has been his loss though. And, ha, that misguided lance made me laugh out loud!
ReplyDelete"I fell like a lemming off a cliff,
ReplyDeletelike a horse heading for the barn,
like a freight train to nowhere" my absolute favorite lines. (Bastard, that one!)
“keeping his options open”,
ReplyDeletewhile he plied me with
sweet promises of forever
Very common story of the hustlers plying their wares. You did well to highlight it, Sherry!
Hank
well, he deserved a little exlax at least, if not outright poison
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! I'll settle for applause. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat write. when I scrolled in I wondered about the image. Luv this
ReplyDeletemuch love...
Only you would bake him a last tray of muffins! I hope he choked on every last crumb.
ReplyDeleteThe best revenge is success! Love the reference to Don Quixote.
ReplyDeletean excellent ode to a not so excellent don quixote!! And yet such no-good fellas are like the rite of passage on the way to self discovery.
ReplyDeleteBest left in the dust...
ReplyDeleteI am sure each of us (both male and female) has an unrequited love in their lives. How good it is to get it out our system and bury them for good.
ReplyDeleteOh this was delightful for me and I kept smiling through all the painful memories that your words conjured up....it is good to laugh at them finally!
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday Sherry
ReplyDeletemuch love...
I'm glad you let the pain of this empower you. Wonderful poem, despite the sad subject matter!
ReplyDeleteSometimes karma works, as it did in this case!
ReplyDeletei was wondering about the title and image. :)
ReplyDeletehe didn't know what he missed.
I think blueberry muffins might always haunt him.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he deserves those muffins! Glad you were freed.
ReplyDeleteMy first inclination was to wish you had at least put a strong laxative in those muffins. Get back at him somehow. But upon reflection, I realize that he was one of those very strong 'teachers' we confront in life. You learned a lot from him, mostly about yourself. He didn't make you bitter, instead he helped you recognize and expose the smart, kind person you are.
ReplyDeleteSo nice that you can now view this with a sense of humor.
His loss....all the "missed" valentines in a pile, would make a "bon fire" to warm all cold and lonely hearts.
ReplyDeleteTrue to the blues of those berries ...
ReplyDeleteLove is a fickle friend Sherry and perhaps we have all been hurt, been betrayed, when we have given over our hearts in pore trust.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you won in the end, found the real you, the strong you, and yes, that he ended up the loser.
Anna :o]
Haha That was awesome...not so much the experience but the story.
ReplyDeleteZQ
Loved the droll humor that you injected into this piece. And your revenge is brilliant. I've always believed that the best revenge is living a good life - and you're the proof of that, Sherry! Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI know that guy. I use to go out with him too.I did not make him muffins but I cooked his goose:)
ReplyDeleteLOL re the cooked goose.
ReplyDeleteA very intimate write. I love his "poison" and the last stanza is great. Which leads to my next comment. The image you paired with the poem is so perfect.
ReplyDeletehmmm, I have a post on arsenic .... laughing. Enjoyed the poem.
ReplyDeleteMNL (Cactus Haiku)