One Simple Word

Holland
I used to believe you when you said that.
You always sounded like you meant it.
When you said that word,
that one simple word with so much meaning,
it was like we had invented that word,
and it meant nothing
to anyone but us.
It was like a secret we shared,
a secret for our ears only.

Holland
Like a rainbow after a storm,
like a bubble bath in the evening,
like a kiss just because,
that word,
that one simple word
always made me feel whole.
No matter what else was going on,
no matter how bad I felt,
when you said that word
everything was okay.

Holland
The word makes me ill now.
I can’t hear it or read it
and certainly not speak it
without thinking of you
and how you hurt me,
how you lied,
how that word,
that one simple word
used to mean so much to me,
To us.

Holland
Now it means nothing.
It is empty,
meaningless,
just another word.
I cry sometimes
when I think back
and remember the time
when that word,
that one simple word
was all it took
to make me complete.

Holland
I know now
that it takes more than a word,
more than one simple word,
to be happy.
When you said that word
it was hollow.
Your heart was elsewhere
with her.
I didn’t realize it then,
But I know it now.
Hope our love lasts
and never dies.
How silly of me to believe
that you could mean what you said.
And never again
will I let one simple word
make me so weak.