Valentine's Day Collection [Closed]

Exchange (NotInOurStars)

Exchange 

I've fallen in love a handful of times,

And each time I have changed for the better.

There are things I have learned,

And places that I would never had seen

If I hadn't loved so readily.

It was a long while ago, but there was this girl -

She was, in all honesty, out of my league.

There was a purity to her beauty, a light

In her eye,

And she brought out the very best of me.

I had never known that I could be tender,

That the blush that came to her cheeks

As I stood on her doorstep, bouquet in hand,

Would light up the world;

Yes, I could change this bleak world.

A fair while after, there was this man...

He was suave and he held me so lovingly,

But out on the street, he'd swear, drink and fight.

His lips tasted of tobacco, or sometimes whiskey,

And he brought out the fire in me.

I had never felt such passion. We would argue

As he came home late, knuckles bloodied, words slurring.

Never before had I cared about somebody so much...

Never before had such sharp words been so lustful,

Nor - for the first time in my life - did I just lie down and take it.

From each love, I have taken something with me -

The tenderness, the power, the passion, the flames.

To each love, I must have given something in exchange.

To my darling, the blush upon her cheek, I suppose,

And to my last love, the words that he needed to hear.