I don't Know What to Do
Your arms lock around yourself,
shielding against the explosion
that shatters and scatters our perfect world.
You say:
"I don’t know what to do."
My mind and body race,
hurrying to pick up shards,
forcing together the jagged puzzle pieces of our happiness.
"I don’t know what to do."
Take my hand—look at me!
There’s nowhere else to be but here, with you.
We can still make it through.
"I don’t know what to do."
We hold each other tight,
Trying to create diamonds from our charcoal hearts.
Do not let me go.
"I don’t know what to do."
You pull away—
from my arms, from the wreckage, from desire.
You cannot climb any higher.
Devastation. The world’s on fire.
Again:
"I don’t know what to do."
You will take no more from me.
Alone, abandoned, afraid—
a heavy heart, a weary mind.
It’s left to me to call our time.
Sadness.
I do know what to do.
This is written so perfectly that it’s not hard to visualize and feel what you were feeling. I can only tell from myself that I’ve been here as well. Sometimes you even hold on to the shattered pieces for a while..Sadness is a phase we need to go through in order to let go and open up for something new. I keep believing the best is yet to come.
This is a powerful and emotionally charged piece. It captures the raw vulnerability of love unraveling, the desperation to hold onto something that is already slipping away, and the painful realization that sometimes, the only choice left is to let go. The repetition of "I don’t know what to do." works beautifully—it becomes a haunting refrain, almost like an echo of avoidance, indecision, and ultimately, emotional distance.
The contrast between the speaker’s determination to mend what’s broken and the other person’s withdrawal is heartbreaking. The imagery—shattered pieces, charcoal hearts, a world on fire—builds an intense atmosphere of loss. And that final line? A gut punch. “I do know what to do.” It’s the quiet resolution, the painful acceptance that sometimes, love isn't enough to hold things together.