I saw your face for the first time in a long time, and it was no longer mine.
And the pain was gray and pink, and soft, like gum, like gums
No longer able to bite
The smile I’d snuffed with confusion
Seen with the eyes you no longer flooded
I cannot say what it was
But it had fur and it breathed deeply
And I loved and bled for it
Now you are yourself again
The paint, before it dried
Before we ever touched it

I saw your name on a furniture store sign,
Bright across the highway
Among all the fluorescence and so peaceful
As if I could say hello to the graveyard with love,
As if the Best Buy and supermarket were also debts we had squared
Together

Would it be too much to take a sip from your stars,
Uncover the man left staring blank into the crowded yard
And your apology was quick and nimble
I had planned to meet you there
In the sand

Say it louder
I’m listening

There are many things to be said,
A tiny bird in a square patch of light
You locked the door but forgot to close it
So it flutters at every banging crash in the frame
Wind will be a guest always, coming in to the city
We have historically excused ourselves and shouted, projecting, over it’s head during dinner

Maybe one day you will hold me close in bed, in the after-dark,
Whispering, and my laugh fogs up your chest

We listen while it rummages for a snack in the drawer

I watched you eat chocolate for breakfast in your work pants
Your tired pink turning everything that was green into blue
You will discover infinite things before I do and so I get to live one and a half days extra on top of each one given to me
I feel like an eternal castle bell
I must be so because you explain me like a ringing in your skull and just as liquid gold
So liquid that sometimes our disagreeing sunsets are worth hearing your voice for so long
You describe plastering a wall
I hear that there has been discovered a new section of Earth

We are most alive when we cannot see clearly and the next step could **** us
But to get home we have one less than two options
Again and again
You’re the heavy rain and the thick, ****** wine
And I’m driving and I need glasses badly