It is useless
To put a love worth more than fire
In the vicinity of a child.
Small hands catching embers
Like snowflakes.
Feet powdered with ashes
Will only ruin his mother's dress.

No one can keep two eyes
On their brother's treasure
Without dreaming of islands.
White sand outlining
The future of the red hands.
A future lived extravagantly
In an empty beach house.

Unfair,
To a world filled with hypocrisy,
For lovers to live like angles.
Cynical souls will never grasp
A hand as beautiful as yours.
Company, confused in confession,
Lost in self-loathing,
Cannot behold eyes of the
Darkest forest green.
Skin subsides for saber teeth,
Not worthy enough for your lips.
It is unfair to the world
That you are mine.
I found a lone pearl in a grave
Of broken glass.

Jeremiah refused to be rescued in mixed company.
I threw a going away party
in the hopes of his failing resurrection.
Pseudo somber faces filled the kitchen,
made up with pictures of rustic barns
and floral wallpaper;
the heat became too much to bear.

Our friends payed homage,
placing regifted bottles of
coop and kraken
on the mantle,
and wrote letters of congratulations
signing their names backwards
in my guest book.
The day lost its luster
and coffee mugs of champagne
ran empty.

Conversations danced
around truth and honesty
escaped out the window.
I saw a stranger in the corner.
His name tag read Sinner
and his guilt left ink
on his forearms.
I asked him to read my palm
and he confessed how much
he loved wakes.

My laughter shattered the static.

You were everything I ever wanted.
You were everything I ever wanted.
I was everything you ever wanted.
You were everything I ever needed.
I was everything you needed.
They were everything you ever wanted.
I was everything you ever wanted.
You were everything I ever needed.
They were everything you ever needed.
They were everything I never wanted.
You told me they were everything you never wanted.
I believed that I was everything you always wanted.
I believed I was everything you ever needed.
You were everything they ever wanted.
You were everything they ever needed.
I was everything you hated.
I was everything you never needed.
I was everything you wanted.
I was nothing you wanted.
I was everything you wanted.
I was nothing you wanted.
They were nothing that you needed.
I was everything you needed.
I was everything you wanted.
I am nothing that you need.
I am nothing that you need.
You are nothing that I need.

You are everything I ever wanted.
You are nothing that I need.

I asked my friends to look after my house
while I was away.
I left a forwarding address
and nothing else.
A few asked how long I would be gone,
and I said I wasn't sure.
I don't know much more than my middle name.

My mother called,
breaking the silent drive I was enjoying.
She asked if I was still with Schyler.
I told her I didn't know,
and that she would have to call him
after his date.
I've heard she is a respectable woman.

I checked into the Chinatown motel
and tipped the bell hop after he retrieved my mail.
Not that I appreciated his services;
I hoped he would save his earnings and leave.
No one deserves to grow up here.

One letter was from my neighbor
asking for a postcard.
I sent my bill, hoping that was enough.

The second was from my brother,
his letter of resignation and a simple request
with a time constraint:
You have two weeks to make everything right.

While looking for a black pen
I found a green answer,
and the returning question of why
blue and red make white,
and not the beautiful purple hue
Schyler talked about so often.
I wondered if he had forgotten the color of my eyes.

I ran out of time and spent all my money
with no souvenirs to showcase back home.
Schyler seemed hesitant when I gave him
a date of my return,
and I lied when I said I missed his embrace.
I left a note on my pillow
appologizing for the mess
and said that I would be back next year.

My excuse to return the stolen towels.