Happily Ever After

I spoke the words
but I didn’t believe them.
I only said them because
I felt it was my duty
to preserve the fantasy
of ‘happily ever after.’

The illusion would become reality
if I wished hard enough.
The masquerade would inspire a change
that would lead to a new truth.

But daydreams cannot wash away
the harsh stench of the sadness of the here and now,
the sting of tears wept with a forced smile,
the accommodation of half-kept promises
and routines drawn up by half-hearted sighs
or the wringing of my heart as all feeling
drips into the bucket of cynicism and death,
till there’s no escape
just a dull pain that eases into numbness.