We met in the sunshine under the granite
I didn’t know you yet, but my heart did
I don’t know why

We would let our friendship grow
Where we biked to that bridge
Cold beer in hand
Swollen ankle submerged

Tissiack cried and we kissed
Slow it down, you said
I was ravenous
I don’t know why

A distant lightning storm
The smell of herb on your skin
I’d be leaving soon
Tissiack cried and we kissed

I’ve humored that habit
With each lightning storm since
Just to feel it again
I don’t know why

SSGT Sky
do you remember
sitting so close together
letting our skin brush the others
but never allowing our eyes to meet?

and I was just 14
but I knew exactly who you were to me
and you were almost 18
almost a marine

The callow acts of our youth
can cut deep
my heart always ruled the roost
governed by altruistic spontaneity
and with every blind leap
you were there, looking after me

SSGT Sky
do you remember the week I turned 18
you returned from overseas
remember the bed we made on the beach
your hands shook as they traveled the length of me

and we were just kids
though your innocence was stripped
I knew exactly who I was to you,
and I tried to replenish all of it

But the callow acts of youth
they cut deep

SSGT Sky
do you remember forgetting that we belonged together?
and how I thought I was jaded by those who came after?
until the night before you left
you showed me the pillow that you'd kept
and with my hair tie on your wrist
you kissed me like you'd never loved another

I was a lost 23
until I remembered exactly who you were to me
you were almost 27
a special ops marine

the callow acts of our youth
remedied
my heart always ruled the roost
governed by altruistic spontaneity
and with every blind leap
you were there looking after me

SSGT Sky
our fallen marine
did you still wear my hair tie on your wrist
when you remembered your last memory?
and of your last thoughts
did you take comfort in any of me?

The callow acts of our youth
can cut deep
my heart always ruled the roost
governed by altruistic spontaneity
and with every blind leap
you will remain
looking after me.

It’s a granite bench that I frequent
Your name carved in stone; eternal
It’s the ink over my ribs.
A barrier to protect our vulnerable hearts
You used to tease me for my love of symbolism
How could we have known?

I’ve been reading up on Dickenson
I’ve been keeping my room a mess
I’ve been seeing you in my dreams

I talk with you there, but I still can’t talk with you here

On this granite bench that I frequent
I kiss your name in stone; eternally it lingers for you there
The next time I return, it remains, unclaimed and cold

What was protecting your heart?
Was it that through which the bullets tore?
Two to the chest, that’s all I’ve been told.
No CPR preformed.
****** up thought, I know.

I cut my bangs after your funeral
It was a poor choice
As we both could have predicted.
You would have laughed and kissed me all the more.
They’ve grown out now

During the time it took for them to grow, I hated the sunset
How could something so beautiful exist in the same world that kicked you out so soon?
How could I find peace in that?

And, I was ****** the moment that it did
It’s not a habit that I frequent
But none the less, that night I did
How could I have known?
A symphony of blinds clacking in the wind,
A leaky air mattress’s hiss, crickets that sounded ******
And I couldn’t move
So I just listened, and composed, and
All the while you bled, your heart stopped
Your last breath

I just laid there, ******, arms spread wide, eyes fixed
Maybe like you, I suppose?
****** up thought I know.

So, I offer a kiss to your name, carved in stone
I leave it there
But I know
It will just grow cold
And my ink itches me, over my ribs, over my heart

It must be the cold