There was music in the way she moved
And her voice was of vivid sunlight.
She danced and leaped and twirled with water.
Her gaze was filled with the children soothed.

I tried to emulate all she did
I studied every single action
I noted the words she used in speech
I did every single thing she bid

But when I moved it was in silence
My mouth spoke words coated in moonlight
And when I danced it was with the earth.
My gaze filled with victims of violence.

I do remember vividly
The four a.m. conversations,
Feelings explained implicitly,
Plans made without obligations.

Toes dig into the rocks and sand
As we gaze up at the bright stars.
Nothing about that night was planned
Though it left us with unseen scars.

I remember the excitement
Of my phone lighting up the night
With your sweet words of enticement.
The fire in me would ignite.

And our flame was a bonfire
That lit up the world for miles
At once our warmth and our pyre.
We quickly burned with our smiles.

Don't ever leave me.
You would cut away my rope;
I'd be lost at sea.

From time to time
I sit with them,
These people of
My distant past.

I reach into
My memory
And pluck them from
My restless thoughts.

And then I twist
And pull and squeeze
Until I have
Them at their best.

All of us laugh
Remembering
The height of our
Times together.

But then even
That starts to fade
And slowly they
Become silent.

They stare at me.
Melancholy
Written in their
Old, tired eyes.

Even the kids
Are the same way
With their sad faces
Gazing at me.

"What?" I ask them
"What do you want?
I'm trying to
Keep you alive."

Tears flow freely
Down their faces,
From my two eyes,
Because we know.

This can't, won't last,
They are not real,
Not anymore.
And so, they fade.

I've been lying on a bed
Of thorns for so long
I neglected to see the
Rosebuds, pink and red.

Isn't it quite ironic,
That the rose forgot
The sweet scent of her own kind?
My balm, my tonic.

I haven't seen my petals
In the longest time.
I've only seen my sharp thorns
As the night settles.

Walls close in around me
I can't breathe, I can't see.
I am gasping for air
Wriggling in its snare.

Alone, alone, alone
I know I'm on my own
As the clock ticks away
My minutes, hours, days.