ruined

You have ruined me for other men.

Not in the sense

that I will never find someone

to love me like you did;

but in the sense

that if you could fool me for so long

if you could build a pretense

from my hopes and dreams

and hand it to me

as if it were a gift

as though you could give me the universe

then what is to stop them

from marvelling at your construction

inviting themselves in

and settling quietly 

into the home you built 

with your falsities?

We could be so content there

that I could almost believe it's the truth

when they say the words

I am dying to hear

and desperate to ignore.