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Poetry About Betrayal

Betrayal is a wound that strikes from the back, delivered by the hands we trusted most. These poems navigate the stormy waters of deception - the shock of the reveal, the bitterness of the lie, and the shattering of a shared reality.

It is a universal scar, ancient as story itself. Yet, within the pain of betrayal lies the opportunity for a fierce rebuilding of the self, a lesson in discernment, and the ultimate, difficult freedom of forgiveness.

Featured Poems

The Mirror Cracked

When the image of a person shatters.

I looked at you and saw my own safety reflected. I gave you the hammer believing you were building a house for us.
Then came the swing, not at the nail, but at the glass. Now I stand in the shards, seeing a thousand jagged versions of you, and not one of them is the friend I knew.
The blood on my feet is real, but the person you were was a ghost.

- Cassandra Void

Two-Faced Moon

The duality of the deceiver.

You showed me the light side, cratered with smiles and soft words. I basked in the glow, thinking the night was warm.
But moons must turn, and you spun on your axis to reveal the dark side, cold, silent, and empty.
I fell into the vacuum of your secret, gasping for air that wasn't there.

- Janus Grey

The Judas Kiss

Relationship betrayal.

It wasn't the anger that hurt, nor the shouting, nor the silence. It was the sweetness of the lie, sugar coating the poison.
You held my hand while your other hand unraveled the knot that held us together.
softly, gently, so I wouldn't notice the drift until I was already alone at sea.

- Marcus Brutus

Classic Voices

Julius Caesar (Excerpt)

by William Shakespeare (1599)

The ultimate political betrayal.

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

They Flee From Me

by Thomas Wyatt (1557)

A lover reflecting on fickleness and abandonment.

They flee from me that sometime did me seek With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, That now are wild and do not remember That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range, Busily seeking with a continual change.

Micro Verses

Trust is glass. Once broken, it will always shine a little differently.

- Glass Maker

The knife in the back hurts less than the smile that hid it.

- Survivor

Loyalty is rare. If you find it, keep it.

- Old Wolf

The back remembers the knife long after the wound has healed.

- Scar Tissue

Deeper Explorations

Infidelity

Love turned wrong.

Lipstick Stain

A shade I do not wear, a scent I do not know, a map of where you've been on a collar white as snow.

- Scarlet Red

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