First Heartbreak

Our first heartbreak is not our junior high crush

It is our parents

Our mentors

Our teachers

Those we hold high

Those placed on pedestals

Built from our hopes

I remember looking at my sister’s face

The day she sent me away

She couldn’t meet my eyes

And I thought

I have no one left to believe in

The hardest part

Was how human she looked

As she tried to keep her tears

From falling

The truth is that

Idols fail

They break

Sometimes they even have

The sheer gall to do something so terrible

As to die

To love a eidolon in a palace

Seems without risk

Until we see them fiddle

While the kingdom burns

But this realization allows

For us to see

That we

Who may also be worshipped

Are just as flawed

Each of us may live

To see ourselves become villains

And the love and worship

That we give and take

Never comes without risk

The pain of that broken pedestal

Is like no other

It scars in a way that reminds

That aches

It is the most difficult lesson we learn

About consequence

And the actions we take