35

On By ELLEIn poetry

Sometimes, loving someone
is about leaving them the way they are.
Not everyone belongs on your to-do list,
not everyone is fit to be fixed.

While we may believe that
we’re meant to leave people
better than we found them,
sometimes, we’re just meant to leave.

If I tried to censor every mouth I met that ever
uttered a nasty word,
I’d be a moth
racing towards every light, enticing,
trying
to kill me.

There is no shame giving up
on someone you just couldn’t save
if it means you save yourself from it, too.
There is courage in continuing to keep the door propped open
even after the bad ones got in.
But there isn’t in sewing yourself up
even when you knew it’d
hurt this much after.

Not everyone can be saved from themselves;
it is not your responsibility to save each one.
Sometimes, loving yourself
is about hearing footsteps enter your home
that already sound like someone leaving
and not take this as a challenge, but knowing it’s
just someone on their way out.

46 thoughts on “35”

  3. shoniessky

    Omg.. You’ve found a way to express exactly what I’ve always done wrong. Yet gave me the courage to see what I’ve always known.

    (There is no shame giving up
    on someone you just couldn’t save
    if it means you save yourself from it, too.)

    This is everything I needed!! You are special Elle.. A gift. A messenger for people..xoxo

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  5. Hasan Adan

    This was an amazing piece filled with alot of gems as do most of your lovely writing. I had to stop and reread the verse ‘ if i tried to censor every mouth…’ it was captivating .🙌🙌🙌

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  9. Ohmz

    Love them all with all their devilry, and angelic ways;with their clean or unclean mouths. You have it nailed on that bullseye: leave them as they are. In my honest brutal opinion and experience, yes. We need not change or control people, it is really up to their capacity to see themselves in an ultra 10k mega uber Hd mirrors, to know they can do it themselves.

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  11. Beautifully written from the heart as only you can do. Others write but you have a special talent for expressing in words feelings and emotions that go beyond words. Another well-written poem. Thank you for writing the fantastic poems that you do. Stan

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  13. oviate

    Sometimes people are there to learn something from them, and that’s it. Each person I’ve known that was difficult to let go of I ended up learning a lot from long after they were gone.

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  15. Your words are so much wiser than…”You can’t save some people from themselves” or “You can’t fix stupid.” Agree, we must try, but we should not make a career out of rescuing others. Great post.

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  25. Once again, Elle, you, for me, write and share with a heartfelt poignancy that touches something deep in the core of me. Your self-awareness and capacity to articulate the light and shadow of love, as you experience it, is breathtaking. I especially thank you for your closing words:

    Sometimes, loving yourself
    is about hearing footsteps enter your home
    that already sound like someone leaving
    and not take this as a challenge, but knowing it’s
    just someone on their way out.

    These words bespeak, for me, an essential time-and-space discernment of beginnings and endings, indeed, potential endings in the prospect of beginnings. Marvelous.

    Much love and admiration and appreciation,
    Paul

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    1. Paul, you are always much too kind. Thank you for your sweet words–readers like you keep me going to tell these authentic, real-life stories. 🙂

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  26. Caitlin

    Oh heavens, your words are so lovely. I’m an editor by profession, but read and enjoy a lot of poetry blogs. Although my field of expertise is editing historical pieces, I still consider myself a poetry connoisseur. With that being said, this may sound strange, but since WordPress is a community, you don’t happen to know the poet at https://thingsishouldprobablysay.wordpress.com do you? I’ve really loved and been swept off my feet by two blogs; yours and his. If you do know him, I’d pay to read a collaboration. You two allow me to see the world in such a tangible way that I sometimes weep at the raw beauty of the poems. Sorry this was such a long comment, I didn’t mean it to be. Cheerio

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    1. Aw Caitlin this is so sweet! I actually have seen him around this scene–I do my best to know who is in this community as I have a larger reach. I love his ideas–we do use the same tone! Thank you for showing me his work. I appreciate your readership! ❤

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  29. Hmm, nicely put. In my own case if I want to influence anyone at all (and I’m not at all sure I do!) I would rather do it with the written word as you have done than face to face. In any event, I am not sure that people can be made to change or should be. Unless the need for change comes through self realisation it probably does not stand a chance.

    Even then I am not sure we have the ability to alter the bedrock of our nature, try as we might. At least that has been my own experience, despite the much vaunted plasticity of the brain.

    And leaving aside the difficult sticking points of self will or its lack (determinism).

    I have enjoyed your work.

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    1. Interesting insight! Of course it’s easier to have these tough conversations as written–since you’re able to dictate exactly what you say and how you’ll get across. But I think there is something raw and honest about hashing something out in person; it doesn’t come out perfectly and packs-a-punch everytime–but does anything else in life? Thanks for commenting!

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  31. Laura Denise

    Well, that was timely for me… ❤ Such beautiful moth imagery that I can relate to and will remain in my mind's gallery. Thank you for "penning" your words and sharing them.

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  34. “Sometimes, loving yourself
    is about hearing footsteps enter your home
    that already sounds like someone leaving
    and not take this as a challenge, but knowing it’s
    just someone on their way out.”

    So very right! Beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

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  37. I believe all relationships have their season in time., some many seasons. However, change happens. Sometimes the changes we go through bring us closer together, other times we drift apart and go our own separate ways. Nonetheless, it’s important to recognize healthy vs unhealthy relationships and get yourself out of toxic situations.

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