The way things were when sunlight started to terrorize the morning and then eventually, the evening sky. My chest thumped at a glacial pace. A slow hibernating thaw. Those days I slept quite easily whilst my mind ran away with the time. Taking time with clowns & thieves alike. Sponges indeed, sponges after all. You crept in one night, hanging moons beneath your eyes. I had exploded. I closed. On the loom, black lace then white cotton. In my room, a screaming then a humming. Cigarettes scattered the floor like sacrifices to some distant deity. Who must have heard my prayers. Something about all your silence threw blankets on my lungs and off my bed. In your youth, I feel soft. Joy, I want more just you. you. you. you &