Your eyes were laced
with fatigue induced red lines
that were not unlike
the red lines that laced the world maps I used to obsess over
before I realised
that the world that existed beneath
your fatigue laced eyes
was worth travelling too.

Endless months fell
like sand between my fingertips
as I tried to smooth out the creases
that covered my bedsheets
before I realised
that you were not a crease in my bedsheets,
you were the gust of wind that put them there.

Each time I approach the door handle,
she climbs onto my back,
almost choking me with her bony hands,
reminding me of the control that I lack.
And as the day progresses, she whispers her commands into my ear,
repeating them again and again,
just in case I didn't hear.
Each time I open my mouth, she threatens to explode,
for she fears that I will forget that my body
is merely her abode
I am to nurture her and keep her happy,
even if it kills me
for if i don't, i fear she will send me plummeting backwards,
like a ball from a golf tee.
Only when I close my eyes each evening,
does she hop off my back with an almighty heave
and I sigh with relief as I say goodnight to my unwanted visitor
who I fear will never leave

Her soul was coated with untouchable layers
that not an ounce of rainfall
or an abundance of footsteps could damage
but the ocean was her weakness
and every time his waves sung to her,
she crumbled into his engulfing arms
even though he never stayed.

I was a single grain of coffee
floating in the porcelain mug
that was your heart

eyes the colour of
black coffee
from which steam is spiralling out

but no caffeine rush from coffee
could ever compare to the
caffeine rush that those eyes inflicted
each time they meet mine.