You told me you loved me.

Maybe you didn’t mean it.

Maybe those words have slipped from your lips so often that you throw them around like laundry.

But if that were true then how come you told it to her?

And the way you said it made my bones rattle.

The way you said it pulled the breath out of me.

You look at her the way I looked at you…

I don’t wish you any ill will.

I just wish you never promised yourself to me.

Because unlike you I meant it when I said

“I love you.”

Maybe the next time I say it to someone,

you’ll hear it and your bones will rattle.