Little girl
You don’t have to cut or heal
As the waves along the shore
Erode my feet.

Time is a passing thing
You don’t have to crack
Every mirror
As you stare at wishes
For an open window.

Don’t be a culprit
They always leave a mark
Of things to come.
Or whisper gently in my ears
“Find me when you wake.”

Change is just a yellow leaf
Falling to the ground.
And I, too, turn into you
As the summer sun
Brings back colour
To both your eyes.

Your body is but a burning flame
Why don’t you just
Keep dancing
As you put on your clothes
However
Do it slow.

I'm words for hire
But my eyes are tired
And my voice is gone.
I've burned bridges
But I don't set fires
Just to see how
High the flames would go.

I have no recourse for the winds of future
Where the embrace of arms
Is closer than France.
Where doused, like leaves in a pond,
we swim freely over voices of youth
that can’t explain love
like knots they can’t untie, undo.

I’ve no remorse for the loss of time
I set sail with my paper boats each day
Into the corners of her mind
Hanging to the corners of her lips
And swinging from the corners of her chin
Till I, myself, am cornered.

But she runs and lies
Between words and whispers
Between timing and silence
And I exist in the space
Between her eyes
Between her lips as they part
To utter fiery words
Or I lie in dried shades with dust of time
Finally, I find her.

Like the winding road inside of me
That leads to laughter and madness
Madness of a holiday where you forget age
One day I’ll forsake you
Like the stolen moon
In a sparrow’s eye
And carry your laughter
Buried deep in the forest of me.

Take me like the pages of a book
You read when you were young
See me as a door
If you don’t know me yet as a
Wall left bare
With an open window.

Her teeth are crooked skylines of a forgotten city,
Against the summer sun
That goes down and doused in shadows,
All is quiet.

In my mind, there are only mirrors.
And every photo is black and white.
When she smiles,
The colours return.

I put the lamp away and put myself on fire
Things that burn are hard to reach
That is why her eyes stray
Seeking cold shades and warm shelters
Unlike my arms, charred and red
From holding you.

All my paper crowns are ashes
And the empty banks are flooded
With tales of the old.
So by the sleeve of an old sweater,
By the base of a broken tower,
By the loom of this forgotten craft,
By the by
I make myself anew
Out of the cities of you.

And the tired sun rises and settles
In her eyes of fire
Eyes of gold
But inside me, there are only
Mirrors upon
Mirrors
With no reflection.

Here I am
Dressed in the sleeve of a gifted shirt
Muttering words, too fast, in a language you cannot fathom
Hair tousled in the wind, hands waving
Wearing a smile borrowed from an old photograph
Legs thinner than before.

There you lie
Never too far but always at a distance
Forever moving a little bit too quick
And yet, slowing down time
Whispering through a half smile
Like the sun about to rise
From my window
Almost a perfect circle,
She dances.

Here I stand
Building a wall
With each brick, a memory of
No one.
Stealing the night from her eyes
Spinning in the circle
Of perennial dress rehearsal
Adorned with tatters of yesterday
This circus grows vile.

And behind the empty canvas of every mask
Your eyes are open cages
With singing birds
Your words are roads going nowhere
Your mouth, a lake with depths unknown
Even though your tongue is still
But your hands are doors that never open
As you watch me
Watching you
Dangle the world
From your keychain.

What, I ask, comes after the flood?
Do we drift, or do we drown?

As ripples become waves, and
Threads become ropes
And we find ourselves ashore
Where we never were
Let me keep your silence
And you can keep my words
I've far too many beyond repair.

And I will watch the sun
Of your eyes changing colour
Brown at dusk, black at night
Rest against its white
Till I drown, in the ocean of hair

Where I sang in the cold
And the fog were my words
The night was blind to all
And the lights were dead

It was there, I found a safe place
In the arms of you.

Let your words spill out of me
Words that I write alone
On your back in the dark
Words like fruits I pluck from your eyes
Words that shine on the silver
Of your moon skin.
Let them enclose me like your
Arms on a dark street
Till there is nothing else
But words and you and me.

Let your words drown my memories
Lead me to newer lands with shores of hope
Where I find you smiling at every corner
And the trees utter your secrets
With silent words.

Let me be your empty page to conquer
Let my lines spell freedom for your winged words
And I will plant my words
Like kisses on your tired eyes
Watch the tendrils bloom into flowers
And roots fasten themselves down
Into your warm *****.

And with words, we will
Paint pictures that speak
Sing our songs to reach the sky
With words, we shall brave
Sliver of serpent tongues
Trapeze and traverse this trepid time
Till there is nothing else
But words and you and me.