Faces from a past I've left behind
Haunt me now and again as I sit,
Thousands of miles from home,
Lifetimes from the source of pain.

They whisper to me when I'm alone,
When the lights are out and my world is still,
Begging me to regret, to return,
To rebuild a demo'd bridge.

A child grown into a woman
Teases me by candlelight,
And stabs me in my consciousness
When I lay awake at 3am.

She was a rose I sheltered
Against a cloud and a storm
And the reign that she had made...
Only to turn my back for "cause".

I used her like a reason
To leave behind myself.
I never said goodbye,
Nor shed a single tear.