Falling Between the Trees

It's funny how the structure of a sentence can change its meaning:
I love you because I'm broken; I'm broken because I love you.

I remember when I was a little girl, I thought my father was sick because he drank.
Now I know it was the other way around, he drank to drown his demons.

When you and I would lie together with tangled limbs,
I thought that I could feel your love flowing into every part of me.

It was only once you left that I realized I was the only one in love.
Now I drink to wash you from my mouth and drown my memories of you.

I get drunk every day with the lights turned off thinking of you.
You fall asleep every night full of love for her and pity for me.

She must be a piece of china from the way you hold her.
I must be a paper bag from the way you let me go.

I wonder if the shattered pieces of my heart can be seen in my eyes.
I know that every time I hear your name I have to choke back tears.

I used to think the trees with knots in their chests were hurt but fighting.
I used to sit aspirin on their branches to help them grow.

But then my father told me they were dying, just waiting to fall.
I've joined their forest with my broken heart and weak knees.