Almost

Almost – Zip Poem

she almost believed his love, his lies
“almost”is dangerous as he is

For Val’s Scavenger  Hunt

Write a Zip (an English language Haiku analog created by John Carley). The Zip has 15 syllables written in 2 lines having one internal caesura in each line represented by a double space.

Looking to Scavenge the Season

And, here is a longer version of the poem:

Almost

she almost believed in his love, in his affection, in his kindness, in his compassion, and even in his lies.

she almost believed that beneath all his broken promises, there was a heart that knew how to love her without destroying her.

but almost was the cruelest word he ever left her with.

because she almost felt loved, almost felt safe, almost felt chosen.

and he almost made her believe that she was worth staying for.

it turned out that almost was a dangerous word – a fragile little hope that kept her holding on to someone who was already letting her go.
and perhaps the most heartbreaking thing was not that he lied, but that she kept searching for something true in him, even when the truth was slowly breaking her.

she almost believed in his love.

and he almost convinced her that the pain was worth it.

but in the end, she was left with nothing but the unbearable realization that the most dangerous thing about him was not his lies,

but how gently he made her believe them.