Textbook love - paperback boy
I drink you in as I read your words
with my splintered heart 
and shackled dreams, 
I long for the taste 
of one more gentle goodbye.
Shadowed figure with an angel's face
wearing a halo of adversity
grazes all of my confidence
with each of your smiles.
Sugar in your gaze; honey in your lips.
Sedate my pain and poison my peace.
From fickle embers 
flames briefly burn inside my belly.
But am I just a butterfly
snagged by your net?
Fragile faithlessness taints my crumpled wings
the heaviest of heart beats
could end my flight.
So release me my fairy tale figure?
the only one who can sooth my addiction,
leaving me with a bitter aftertaste,
nothing but your kiss could remedy.
The light has gone out 
and only a shroud of black cloud
remains to comfort me -
yet the vision lingers.
Your voice echoes,
rings inside my head,
and the feel of these creased pages
numb my aching flesh.
I long not to end this chapter
as it draws me only closer
to the end of our tale - 
this textbook love
for you
my paperback boy.

Written by Laura A Coats
circa 2006 (age 21)