the moon has teeth and you’re no longer mine. they pinch and tear and pull chunks of flesh from me, with nothing to ease the pain, staunch the bleeding, and no one to fill the holes left behind. there are pockets of empty space in me that your love used to fill up. my insides are not the same composition as they were before i knew you. you changed me in ways both big and small. you rearranged my molecules. you taught me how to ask for what i need. you were the answer to the questions, “what’s missing from my relationship? what do i need to feel fulfilled?” you were the answer and now you’re what? not a regret, because i refuse to regret loving you. you’re real and you still exist in my life, but you’re also so many memories. everything this past year leads to you. i’m still coming to terms with all i’ve lost, but i’m no longer allowing it to hold me back. not consciously, anyway. can i help it if nobody else measures up to you? mind you, i’m not looking to recreate what we had with someone else, but for a little while what we had was truly special, and i want to believe i can have something special with someone else, too. again. it’ll take time because it was dumb luck that i even found you when i did. that kind of luck, well, it’s rare, in my experience. nonetheless, i’m doing what i said i’d do: branching out, meeting new people. and deepening the relationships i already have. so the moon has teeth, yes. and i don’t have you. but maybe neither am i standing here empty handed, as i’d thought.
