A Game of Pretend

Screwed up inside, but I don’t tell a soul.
No one knows the heavy weight my heart holds.
I put on a poker face and play the cards life deals,
Expressing freely what I think, never venturing into what I feel.

And so life continues, my truth kept well hidden from view.
I carefully guard that image, the one of just us two.
I’ll never let on how I feel; I’ve already known enough pain.
I couldn’t help but fall for you, but now I have nothing to gain.

Just meeting you was miracle enough, I keep telling myself.
You are the picture of perfection, but what of me now is left?
I know you were sent from heaven, for you healed so many wounds.
Yet in burning away my past and pain, you’ve reduced me to but a fume.

So here I am, back to square one, once again a shattered soul.
You fixed me, made me whole again, then sliced me and took your own toll.
I’ll always cherish what you meant to me, although you’ll never know.
I know I’ll never be truly free, until I learn to let you go.

I’ll relish your memory forever, keep it locked away in my heart.
But how can I go on when the nights won’t end, the days just won’t start?
I never thought this day would come, but I guess this is good-bye.
I promise you will always see me smile. You’ll never see me cry.