Because of the past
I had become afraid to love
After all of the hurt and pain
That had come before
The walls I had built around myself
Were tall and strong
My heart was guarded
Safe from infiltration of the love kind
And I walked along through life
Imperious to affection for the longest time
One day, however
You came along
And like a thief in the night
You slipped past my barricades
And stole my heart
I was helpless to stop you
Because I was the one who let you in
Now that you are the keeper of my heart
It is your job to protect it and guard it from harm
To show it the world and what it missed
While I hid it behind walls

You can find darkness in every cell of my body.
    "The murmur of shadow, the hum of night."
                         We build our skins when the sun isn't looking.

...
You're cupping embers
    in antique palms
    that were meant
    to harvest moonlight.

Raindrops ghost over earth's skin
   nebula clouds map universal eyes,
   and you're just a masterpiece
   who is best friends with time.

Don't let those pianos play you,
   serenade and masquerade you
    because we all seem to
    fall in love with the right music,
    and all the wrong notes.

That friend lit a fire in your room,
   seven embers destroying
    unfamiliar wallpaper.
    You burnt your dream catcher,
     to cinders and charcoal;
     Now you pray for sunlight,
     all you've got is a lonely candle's flame.

But from the nightmares and windowsill,
   moonlight slipped through
         and in your palms
         you held
         my words.

Fire doesn't last forever, Leonie.
...

Saying hello, again
Because to say goodbye
I'd have to trust that I would not
Say hello again.

And my silence comes in colors
Like drip-dry paint on the walls of my mouth
Tastes like green and yellow today
Fresh flowers that arrived late
And the yard working all shades.

I hate to stop
Picking back up where I left off is easier said
Than remembered,
No matter how many scribbled expo marker notes are left
on the dry erase boards of my closed eyelids,

Hello,
Again.
Care to dance this dance with me?