I've come to regard
The twangs and twinges
Of falling in love
Like the first signs
Of an illness

The longing, the butterflies
Fluttering in a dizzy belly
The lack of concentration
Blurred vision
And the dread of realizing
That soon I will be missing work
Relegated to my bed
To moan and groan
Shaking and crying
wondering if death would
Feel nicer than this flu

I imagine its what detox is like
This falling in and crashing out of love
In the hell of it, I make promises
To eat right, lots of vitamin c
Avoid others use purell
I can't take the memories
And the missing

I just wish I had been stronger
That I could control my heart
My immune system
My emotions, my disease
My anything, really

I don't ever want
To fall in love
With the wrong person again
This unrequited bullshit
Burns like an ulcer in my gut

And I fear it will eat a hole in my guts
My soul