there is nothing i hate more
than the words you speak to me
when your blueprint plans
to erase my face are foiled by reality.

cordial hellos, mumbled goodbyes -
empty,
petty
and worthless.

you stand there with eyes
trained carefully on the floor,
making sure that your tense body
stays a lifetime away from mine -
acting as if fingertips brushing
or breath mingling is a holocaust;
struggling for something to say
when your whispered words
used to flow like liquid gold into my ear.

your voice comes back to me
like the second frost of winter coming again
to claim the last flower left standing.

let me become a stranger to you -
you are a stranger to me.