Fire Runs Through My Body

Posted by James Browning on

Even though I don’t want you after how deeply you hurt me, my heart still jumps a beat when I hear about you. Seeing you by chance rattles me for hours. Finding old pictures of us disturbs my sleep for days. I don’t want you but I still love you. I wish that would go away. L.M.

Fire runs through my body with the pain of loving you
Pain runs through my body with the fires of my love for you
Sickness wanders my body with my love for you
Pain like a boil about to burst with my love for you
Consumed by the fire with my love for you
I remember what you said to me
I am thinking of your love for me
I am torn by your love for me
Pain and more pain
Where are you going with my love?
I am told you will go from here
I am told you will leave me here
My body is numb with grief
Remember what i have said, my love
Good bye, my love, good bye.”
Recited by an anonymous Kwakiutl Indian
of Southern Alaska to a missionary in 1896

I Won’t Hear You

Posted by James Browning on

After the way your old boyfriend hurt you, I can’t believe you’re leaving me to go back to him again. He’ll break your heart like before then you’ll come running back crying and saying you’re sorry. But I won’t hear you. I’m done. I won’t be a fool for you anymore. L.T.

When one is in love,
one always begins
by deceiving oneself,
and one always ends
by deceiving others.
That is what the world
calls a romance.
Oscar Wilde

Love or Madness?

Posted by James Browning on

It’s agreed going our separate ways is best. We’ve hurt each other far too much to expect our wounds to ever heal while we’re together. Yet, I can’t seem to leave and you don’t appear to want to either. What is it that holds us together and won’t let go. Is it love or madness? V.M.


I’m sorry
I’m not perfect.
I’m sorry
I’m here.
I’m sorry
I didn’t end this
I couldn’t disappear.
Unknown

The Hopelessness I Knew

Posted by James Browning on

It’s been a year. Why after all that time would I take you back? Remember when leaving you said you didn’t love me and never had. Now you say you loved me the whole time.  I don’t believe you. You’re just lonely and want to use me to fill the emptiness in you. D.K.

I loved you, and I probably still do,
And for a while the feeling may remain…
But let my love no longer trouble you,
I do not wish to cause you any pain.
I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew,
The jealousy, the shyness – though in vain –
Made up a love so tender and so true
As may God grant you to be loved again
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

It’s Too Late…

Posted by James Browning on

If only I could have found courage to say how I truly felt things might be different now. We stayed just friends even though you wanted more. I didn’t know how to let you in although I’ve been in love with you for years. Now your heart belongs to another. It’s too late. 失恋

Love comes when manipulation stops;
when you think more about the other person
than about his or her reactions to you.
When you dare to reveal yourself fully.
When you dare to be vulnerable.
Dr. Joyce Brothers

For the Sake of Affection

Posted by James Browning on

You send back my letters. “Return to sender” was on your birthday package when it came back. You won’t see me and hang up if I call. You want nothing to do with me. Losing you profoundly changed me. I’m not the same. Wish you could see it. B.D.

If enduring pain,
braving shame,
despising one’s self
for the sake of affection
and accepting misery
without question
is the definition of love
– then, I LOVE YOU.

Just By Living

Posted by James Browning on

I will never get hold you, kiss you or make love with you again. You’re marrying another. Your life will not be with me and your children will be with someone else.  It’s my own fault. I thought I loved someone else only to discover too late it was only you I loved all along. L.W.

…here she is,
all mine,
trying her best
to give me all she can.
How could I ever hurt her?
But I didn’t understand then.
That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover.
That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair.
Haruki Murakami, “South of the Border, West of the Sun”

Days of Absence

Posted by James Browning on

There are times when recollections of you float to the top of my mind and stick for a while before sinking back down into memory. Our wedding anniversary, the way you made my birthdays special and how much you love Christmas are just a few. I miss you still… B.G.

Days of absence,
sad and dreary,
Clothed in sorrow’s
dark array, –
Days of absence,
I am weary;
She I love
is far away.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Footprints on Our Hearts

Posted by James Browning on

When together we fought constantly and hurt one another badly. Each time broken up we missed each other to the point of madness. Once together the insane cycle began anew. It is time we realized the only way we can love each other is from a distance. A.U.

Some people come into our lives and quickly go.
Some people move our souls to dance.
They awaken us to new understanding
With the passing whisper of their wisdom.
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon.
They stay in our lives for awhile,
Leave footprints on our hearts,
And we are never ever the same.
Flavia Weedn

I Can’t Help Myself

Posted by James Browning on

Sometimes as I start to wake up in the morning I forget you’re gone. Then as consciousness comes I don’t feel you near me, my eyes open and the reality of you no longer sleeping with me falls hard again.  It’s all I can do to keep going. I wish I did not miss you so much. S.T.

I’m trying not to love you
I’m trying not to care
I’m trying not to live my life wishing you were there
I’m trying not to wonder where you are or what you do
I’m sorry I can’t help myself
I fell in love with you