Earworm

You were the music in me.
I heard the melody and felt the beat,
Breathing in your songs as if they were oxygen.
Your lyrics reached deep inside me,
And found a home.
They became my world,
My mantra.
"Everything is my fault."
"I alone am to blame."
You kept writing the lyrics,
And I kept dancing to the tune,
Getting twisted up in the hypnotic notes
So there was no escape.

But nothing lasts forever.
Everything changes.
Even your music.

It started small,
A few notes in the wrong key,
Then missed altogether.
Muffled lyrics I couldn't quite hear.
But the more I listened to the words,
The more I could make out,
And suddenly, I understood...
"I was not to blame."
"It was not my fault."

It Was Yours.

And my world collapsed.

Music that I'd spent a lifetime listening to,
Lyrics that I'd believed had to be true,
Gone.
In their place was a quiet tune,
Spilling out from my heart.
Its lyrics tentatively whispering
"I am strong."
"I am a survivor."

Now, I compose my own songs,
Create my own world with my own mantra,
And dance with abandon to the unshakeable melody of hope.