There is no applause that can be given
for this dark kind of ending
no curtain call, no swelling music
to let me know when it was time to cry
the stage now abandoned, completely bare
rose petals slowly withering like me
but still the scene still repeats itself, in my mind
I see your face, hear your voice
and relive the moment when I did not yet know
that I would soon be unmercifully undone
the stealthy way the betrayal was enacted
how gently the past rearranges the present
in the deepest hours of the night
I still feel you beside me, like the embers that remain
long after the fire is out
now I stand alone amidst the wreckage
pondering the cruelty of betrayal
how sometimes love will not die
but continues to survive without permission
©Ann Bagnall
Annie's Poetry 