Roses

Roses hanging on the wall

My last bouquet

Crepe paper-thin and faded

The phone is ringing off the hook

My swallowed words

Barbed with slow-acting poison

I don't know how to leave you

But don't know how to stay

While love remains as nothing but a

Reminiscent stain

I just can't scrub away

Petals floating to the floor

Swept out the door

The steps he's held from taking

Though every night he stays out late

While I hesitate

I'm scared of being mistaken

I don't know how to leave you

But don't know how to stay

The muddy clay that weighs me down

The life we share, the things

I just can't wash away

Her ghostly voice, it holds me

The claws she hooked in place

All I adored now turned corrupt

The stench of petals left

To only rot away

Roses falling off the wall

Remains of love

Of life that came before