He acted like nothing happened
So I acted like nothing happened harder.

How easy would it be to say
Hi.
It’s so cold today.
I like your sweater.
Kiss me again like that, please.

But I practice a previously unknown patience,
And, inwardly hysterical, avoid the fire of his gaze.

Yes, I am a dreamer.
I’ve gotten lost
So many times
In the realm of my mind.
But sometimes
It’s better to stray aimlessly in a dream
Than to face reality.

Do you hear the old gods singing?
Through marble bones
And filtered sunlight
Their semblance,
Cold and undying
Painstakingly chiseled
And forced into placidity.
Yet still they sing.

Green leaves glide in the soft wind
Like seraphs blowing kisses.
I hear April calling for a renaissance
As the cherry trees begin to bloom.

But nature’s beauty is not enough
To turn my thoughts pretty.

The breeze bites at my ankles,
Urging my blemished heart to heal.
So I rear my idle head at Venus
And spit red venom.

“**** your renaissance.”

A long, impervious silence
And suddenly he is next to her.
She murmurs shyly into her lap
And scrapes at the bedsheets with ragged nails
And he smiles.

He is closer now. Closer than before.
She can smell cologne and anticipation.
She wonders if it’s his or her own,
But then he leans in
And the thought is pushed away;
Forgotten
Until the next time.

Standing tall and proud,
Piercing oblivion.
They stretch and scratch at the sky like daggers unsheathed -
Lost in their monumental presence,
You finally understand
What it feels like to be meaningless,
Insignificant and meager as you wander,
Ant-like, among the monoliths.

Torture skulks around in thought
When it grows constant.
However sweet or illogical,
The mind will groan under the weight of it’s presence.
And when remembering on continually
Becomes habitual,
Comfort can be found
In the harsh throb of reminiscence.