Addiction – the other side

Weeping wounds of disillusion and distance

dusted off in the break of day

For repetition is our fateful repertoire

an unravelling darkness is sure to descend

Bonded by unconditional circumstance

as if balanced on the tightrope of love and pain

wielding silent prayers to arms

you have me on the edge of my seat

as my sanity smiles and walks on by

This is not me, the shadow speaks.

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Addiction – the other side speaks to the anguish addiction casts across intimate relationships — capturing the helplessness, fracture and emotional double bind of loving someone as they disappear into a shadow of themselves.