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 Apr 2017 Brandon Burtis
Sjr1000
"It's a frozen morning "
said the earth to the sun

"Please rain"
said the ground to the clouds

"You're going to die"
said the spider to the fly

"Goodbye"
said the woman
to the sleeping guy

"Don't go"
said the guy to the setting sun

"Come home "
said the house
now all alone

"Let's try, one more time "
said the message on her phone

"Our time has come
Our time has gone "
said the four wheels
on the gravel road

"One more log of mother madrone"
said the woodstove to the cold, cold, room.
Home is where the sand meets the water meets the waves meets the crashing
Home is where I tuck toes into sun-caressed ground that sinks into memory
Home is where the weather is salted and the air blue and hands always warmth
Home is where the ocean bellows a welcome with open arms, cold, tempting
Home is where an excited skipping inhabits the eager legs of a dog too human
Home is the crow's calling for tomorrow
Home is where the voices whisper soft in alleyways outside windows at 3 a.m.
Home is holding a glass of Santa Margarita in front of a graceful fireplace
Home is a ripe avocado waiting to be pitted
Home is my bed full of past unwanted and future anticipated
Home is the bittersweet taste in the mouth
Home is a single cigarette burning to mourn loss unknown
Home is where the glow of a quiet street befriends city lights
Home is his laugh echoing through the silence of the night
Home is my smile growing with the wind's howl
Home is where this body misses another
Home is where I touch you and remember why I'm here
Home is I'm coming back,
Home is I'm counting down the days
until I am
I could be heartless
I could reply with who is this
And some part of you would shatter
knowing that I have attempted to remove you from my life but
the truth is you are still on my phone as much as you are on my mind
There, but not given much attention
Sure, you exist, but only quietly

I think of you sometimes like when my toes are touching sand or
when I have a glass of maker's mark in hand or
when I hear your name in someone else’s mouth
But to be completely honest
I am not broken over this

So your hello comes a few months too late and mine from a few months before has been left without response
I could say hey I miss you too but
that would be considered a lie
Maybe I do now and then but mostly
I only miss you when there is nothing else to miss

Like a vague memory of something that used to sit in the corner of my room
I know it was there but I don't remember much else about its presence
I don't know what to say after it’s been almost a year
I waited for you, too long but
I am not broken over this
Summer has passed and another is coming,
Maybe I will find another you in the next

When you send me a text five months too late I will not be heartless
I will say hello like time hasn’t added pressure on the ache, like
maybe I could still love you the way I did yesterday and
some part of you would be whole knowing a part of me is living in the past,
where we are alive together
I asked the heaven of stars
What I should give my love—
It answered me with silence,
Silence above.

I asked the darkened sea
Down where the fishers go—
It answered me with silence,
Silence below.

Oh, I could give him weeping,
Or I could give him song—
But how can I give silence,
My whole life long?

— The End —