i won't accept this

by Linda M. Crate

you don't get to take my flowers
leave them to wilt in the waters
of a despondency as you have a fling with the next
pretty thing because i deserve better
than withering into entropy, oceans of emotions
eroding me into a shell of the cynic i once
was; shaping me past the point of
repair —
i will prove to you the worth of the woman you lost,
you will look me into the eyes and tell me
the truth of it all because i don't
believe you when you say God told you to do this;
he wouldn't wish such agony upon either of us
don't make despise you
as i do liars —
once i knew how to twist my words into such a way
anyone would believe them, but you inspired
me to want to be better than before
i was naked with all my truths,
and this cannot be my
reward;
all my devotion burning brighter than the passion of stars,
this cannot be the story spelled out for us in the
legacies of galaxy, stars not yet born
cannot remember us this way
nor can the planets or moons of other
realms —
i won't stand down for i cannot surrender this romance,
my love for you burns hotter than the flames
of a forest caught in an unending blaze;
there is no fire fighter that
can quash me beneath his hose or foot
forever this love of mine will
scorch until you are again turned into the likeness
of a smile, and your lips meet mine in a kiss.