We spoke of pretty places we'd someday go
Her eyes shine like stars do
And beautiful things are lost in the search for quantity
Like friends, lovers, and words on pages

Maybe we met in a past life
Cherry stained lips and Aventurine eyes
So familiar and comfortable
Maybe some other where, some other when
You held my hand
and I embraced you between white hotel sheets

Life is fleeting she told him
They climbed in-between branches of trees
We have but a moment before-
She, rustling through leaves, slipped away
Footprints where feet no longer fell
He buys flowers for the ground
Her words still echo at night
"Loneliness is a condition of living"
"Empty rooms often speak the loudest"

We are listening to poetry
And I am admiring your silhouette
I suddenly notice the delicate strength of your hands
And the intricate lines of your palm
I want to study each of them
Run my fingers over them

You bite your nails
and your other hand faces upward
I should take your hand
I want to
Put my hand in yours
Run my thumb across skin
I want to
But I know
I shouldn’t
You hand is being held by someone else
But oh, how I wish to take that hand
Press skin against skin
Swing arms playfully in the chill of the night
Oh, how I wish to take that hand
To dance under the moonlight
I will twirl you around and you will laugh
And that will be the music we sway to

I am admiring your silhouette
I should kiss you
Break the silence that begs to be broken
Oh, how I wish to kiss those lips
Press skin against skin
Leaving cherry red stains behind

My mind is somewhere else
My mind is with you
Oh, how I wish to tell you about the dangerous increase of you in my thoughts
Dare I?
Dare I say how much I enjoy your presence?
Dare I say how I admire your silhouette or your hands?
Dare I say how I wish to hold that hand, press skin against skin?
No, I do not dare
For he is holding you now
But still, I call you darling
Still I comment on your breathtaking loveliness
Oh, how I wish to take that hand!

You look most beautiful when you are going on about him
But my dear, you would still look beautiful even with your hands around my throat

Little girl and red shoes
tiny feet tapped up my spirals of stairs
She twirled through my watch room
I was happy
She visited everyday to have tea with me
To her, I was a castle, a classroom, a secret hideaway
She pressed her body, open armed, into my stone
I wish I had the arms to hug her back

I saw her grow
She’d visit me less
But still came to talk to me
I was happy
I saw first kisses
I saw heartbreak
I saw her grow up

I saw her get married
That night, they danced through my tower
I embraced them in warm light
I wish I had the voice to sing them music to sway to

I saw her grow old
She still came to change my light
Even though the ships never visited the shore anymore
I was happy

She was always in my tower now
Folding paper
more and more
Piling up at the corners of my room
He had to make her leave and go to sleep at night
thousands thousands thousands of gifts from her
I was happy

Feet tap up my spirals of stairs
It’s been so long
My light is dimming and it needs to be changed
Don’t go just yet
Stay a while
Dance and twirl through my tower once more
Let me embrace you in the soft light
The moon looks beautiful
Where are you going?

Please remember me
Why don’t you remember me?
No one will change my light
And you’ll just feed trees that will be used to make paper which will be returned to the paper you left on my stairwell

She visited with him
I wish I had the mouth to smile at her
He helped her change my light
And I was happy
It was the last time I felt her feet on my stairs
But I was happy

A boy has never given me their sweat shirt before
                     I feel 15 again
                               Like you just got your license
                                              Like my father doesn’t know about us
And it smells like you and cigarettes
                                           I don’t know why it feels so nostalgic
                       You use to put out cigarettes on a bible in your attic
I remember sitting there with you, only wanting to be closer
That’s when you were Skye and I had stars in my eyes
                         We became an almost
                                         We became strangers
But now
                 I’m lying on my bed
                              Wearing your sweater             thinking
If I were to ever have a boyfriend,
                                                                 It would be you.

There are only a few things in this life I know for sure
Number 1
I am terrible at speeches
Theres a chorus in my head of ways I could twist letters to italize words in your ears
But when I’m looking at you
I go blank

Number 2
We are all dying
I could die tomorrow
And stare death in the face
He hears last wishes and thoughts all the time
Most consisting of
Should have, could have, but did not
And he just chuckles and asks
Well why not
I could die tomorrow
I don’t want my last thought to be
Why didn’t I tell you?
I wish I told you
And I know you know that we both know it
But there’s a beauty in stating the obvious

Number 3
There are no decisions I completely made up my mind about
Time is only ever ticking away and when time runs out
I’ll regret it
I’m not one for regretting
I don’t want it to become a habit
But I want you to hear it
And maybe I want to hear it
Because we might die tomorrow
There are only a few things in this life that I know for sure

Number 1
I am terrible at speeches
Which is why I wrote this down in the ten minutes before you got here
Because words were buzzing in my skull making honey in the creases of my brain to drip out of my lips and onto yours

Number 4
I live in the moment
Because the future is never promised
And in this moment I love you