shout
a pointless warning
as if
time could contract
and i return
to hear me
shout
          a pointless warning
          as if
          time could contract
          and i return
          to hear me
          shout
                    a pointless warning
                    as if
                    time could contract
                    and i return
                    to hear me
                    shout
                              a pointless warning
                              as if
                              time could contract
                              and i return
                              to hear me
                              shout
                          ­              a pointless warning
                                        as if
                                        time could contract
                                        and i return
                                        to hear me
                                        shout
                ­                                  a pointless warning
                                                  as if
                                                  time could contract
                                                  and i return
                                                  to hear me
                                                  shout
      ­                                                      a pointless warning
                                                         ­   as if
                                                            ti­me could contract
                                                        ­    and i return
                                                          ­  to hear me
                                                            sh­out
                                                             ­         a pointless warning
                                                         ­             as if
                                                              ­        time could contract
                                                        ­              and i return
                                                          ­            to hear me
                                                              ­        shout

same window
still
a gaze beyond
the windowsill
it could have been
it could have

seeps through
my time
like rain
i cling to pain
it knows me well
it knows me

what stays
inside a drop
a dream on top
a shiver
but nothing else
but nothing

what light can never capture,
i carefully selected.

what kindness never lingered
made seconds harsher
than intended.

you made a home
with open windows

inside my weary heart

its furniture in cobwebs now
and empty frames in dust

i wonder if i'll learn to follow

while filling them with smiles
that in the darkness
i invented.

i've seen
these walls
i've felt i've known
no change
and now here
barely breathing
i close my eyes
but seconds
later
the world remains the same

i lie
sedated
as i learn:
my fear
has held me back
in one way
and another

desires –
they are packed like sardines

a year
of wonder
aptly wasted;
not one
but two
abandoned dreams;
directions
bent half-
heartedly;
responses
mass-
produced

;
yet
our debt
exceeds them
all

the kitchen darker
your steps
planned with precision

amounts of time
pass quietly
but changes
are a different breed

the coffee mugs abandoned
still know my lips
better than yours
the humming stove
is singing songs
you used to sing to me

each day
your broken heart
collects tiny
atrocities
each day
the lamps lose more of their
forgotten dream
to shine

perceptions
never saved
the essence
fading
where we rested
with no walls
no collision
two floating sacks
of flesh and feeling
a dedicated
dream preserved
still clinging
braving
pointless pain
two fools who
never learnt to face
an unkind world
that they rejected