Remnants

Since we broke up

I have become you

Through all of the things

That still sit on my tub

As if you were coming back

I scrub my skin with your body wash

And rinse my hair of your shampoo

I shave my legs with your shaving cream

And gaze at myself in the mirror 

Just to see how lovely, how worthy I am

I smell like your naïve belief

That you are good

Because if you do not introspect

How could you discover otherwise?

I smell like your confidence

Based on nothing at all

Just your existence

Because you inherently deserve

I smell like your early morning calls

Disguised as overwhelming love for me

When it was just your morning wood on the phone

And I am just a means of satisfaction

I don’t like these reminders

Of how I explained away your faults

Because I truly believed in you

I saw the potential

That you were not ready to actualize

I shower again just to smell like myself

Of confidence built on hard work

Of a life spent striving to be better

Of recognition that others sometimes know better

But that my love is sincere.