As I watch
your soft limbs bow before me
giving me permission to climb your sturdy trunk
up to your leaves.

I peek through the branches,
the world broken up into crisscrossed windows
each one a glimpse into someone's world.

I'm reminded of my younger days,
climbing higher and higher
until the sky brushed my fingers
in a soft command.

I would be a sky pirate, searching
for something or somewhere or someone
until momma came outside with lemonade and PB&J
and all my problems were solved
with a single kiss to my forehead.

Now, though, I simply watch from above
content in spending a few moments alone,
just me and you and the sky.

Wind picks up, your delicate branches waving in the breeze
letting swaths of gold float to the ground
in curtains that coat the cracks in the pavement
and hide the imperfections with golden rain.

And in that moment, there is nowhere else I'd rather be.

I search for my reflection
but it is here no longer.

One day, you'll whisper sweet nothings in my ear
and I'll fall asleep to your soft lullabies
of stardust skipping stones and rainbow oceans.

One day,  I'll tell you that your eyes
remind me of the universe
and that you shine brighter than the most dazzling star.

One day, I'll reveal that I ask for you whenever I wish on the sun
and that when our fingers brush against each other,
it feels like the entire world smiles.

One day, I'll wake up from this nightmare
only to roll over and see you curled up next to me.

But as I finger the cold sheets beside my lone body,
I know that today is not the day.

I beg of you:

1. Examine me with curious eyes.
Crave to sneak a look within,
to see where the treasures lie.

2. Caress me with gentle fingers --
hold me in such a way
that every touch lingers.

3. Open me, peer into my soul
and study each aspect with care.
Hold each one in the softest embrace
no matter the fright or scare.

4. And this, I ask with all my heart --
love me, treasure me, and all my parts.
For despite appearances, despite my walls,
I am not Pandora's Box.

It wasn’t “I love you”
but at least it was goodbye.

If my teardrops were wishes
life would be filled with the sweetest of kisses.

We sit at the cliff's edge
and skip rocks made of stardust
across the universe of time.