you threw your words into the river
they hopped twice and sank.

you tried again, they hopped thrice
then sank like a stone

your lips tilt into a grin:
you made words tread water
and you are slowly moving
the world underwater

Lying on our backs at the beach,
We gaze at the sky as it blindfolds our eyes
Making us lose sense of where we are–
Making us feel that we are glued to a grainy ceiling
Watching an endless depth, waiting to be scaled by our fall.

I run my palm on the sand as if I were
Straightening the folds of a bed sheet
While you fold your life into a story–
From childhood until where you are now at the beach.

A scene, the name of a friend, the color of a dress
would be drowned by the rushing of a wave,
So that your tale becomes a fragment of things
Remembered, told, heard, and half-heard.

Yet I find your story complete in the wholeness of you
Lying on your back, facing fragments of light
Brought together by distance.

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not touch you
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
And it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth
As all things are filled with my soul
You emerge from the things
Filled with my soul
You are like my soul
A butterfly of dream
And you are like the word: Melancholy

I like for you to be still
And you seem far away
It sounds as though you are lamenting
A butterfly cooing like a dove
And you hear me from far away
And my voice does not reach you
Let me come to be still in your silence
And let me talk to you with your silence
That is bright as a lamp
Simple, as a ring
You are like the night
With its stillness and constellations
Your silence is that of a star
As remote and candid

I like for you to be still
It is as though you are absent
Distant and full of sorrow
So you would've died
One word then, One smile is enough
And I'm happy;
Happy that it's not true