Awake with cold sweat
Glistening on his face
Wishing he could erase
Everything she was

Once dreamt of mountains
Calm, cool streams
Gone are those dreams,
Instead replaced
With the warm, glowing image of her face

He can remember so clearly
The last thing she said
Sprawled and still on the bed
There was so much,
Too much that he wanted to say

'Then speak, ' she said,
'For sticks and stones
May break bones,
But words will last forever'

With one hand he touched her
And he spoke
Through the smoke
Of her last cigarette
But all the language in the world
Did not (could not)  properly articulate
The way she moved him

Always he remembered those words she said
Haunting words rising from beautiful lips
Of a woman whose last kiss
Lingered like the morning fog
Still tortured by the knowledge
That his words of love, of passion
Would never be heard
And never have the chance to last forever