Blurred street lights cast a
hazy reflection on the
city sidewalk. Its glowing
particles gravitate to your
glossy trench coat, bounce,
then gently disperse. We stride
through waves of gelid wind but
in your aura I am warm & calm.

Your cheeks appear smooth like buttons,
& I, like a curious kitten, am eager to press
my paws against them. But I do not.
This is our first night we have walked together.

You were a shooting star,
short lived but spectacular.
A streak of guiding light
in an aimless night.

& in distant skies
I still see flashes.

It took 7 dates,
But it was worth the wait.

When it finally happened
I could have sworn
that I saw explosions from
synapses firing beneath
the surface of her
bewildered
eyes;

My lips brushed
against
hers,
pressed tightly,
then
narrowly withdrew.
Incense
tangy & alluring,
smothered the air
between us.
I could not breathe!
I did not need to.

“Take off your sandals,”
She said.
“Feel holy with me.”

The thunder of trumpets rattled the red sea of blood in my arteries.
A chorus of shouting thoughts compelled me closer to her.
I laid a hand on her cheek, & stroked the contour
of her torso with the other. I felt us trembling,
but in my arms the gentle ripples
from her skin dissipated & I
Drifted into calm.
Our walls had collapsed,
& in the clearing beyond the rubble
& melted silk heartstrings,
I found promised lands.

A feeling buried
beneath
spoonfuls
of time
pleads for resurrection.

It paces within
the confines of my
ribcage. So sweet
and horrifying it is
that it still lives on,
aged & twisted.

I wanted this
love to be
put down.
There was no
future for us
with me here
& her there.
We were in
different places,
in more ways
than one.

She begged me
not to do it.
“It will only hurt more later,”
I said with a grimace,
pulling the trigger.
My heart wept as
& my body shook
to the sound of
goodbye.

& so at a private funeral
I buried my love,
deep within me,
thinking it was dead.
But it were merely
wounded.

When it woke it howled.
Now it whispers.

I wonder if, across
the ocean, it is alive
within her as well. I
wonder if she wants me
to hold her as much as
I do.

I do not know
& may never.
All I can do is keep
shoveling spoonfuls
until one day
I drown out
the whispers.

6:00 PM
The songbird sang
As it always had,
Mellifluous and free
Up in the apple tree

9:00 PM
The cicadas shrieked
& the wind howled
As the setting sun
Drew blood from the twilight

12:00 AM
Shadows absorbed into the night
Lingered in a foggy patch,
Mingled with the gelid air
& muffled a shriek.

3:00 AM
There she lay,
Pristine as a summer’s day
Her soul swallowed by dark
& pattered by the rain

6:00 AM
The songbird sang
As it always had
Mellifluous and free
Up in the apple tree

a lustrous moon glossed in mist
shines on impatient lips longing to be kissed
while a thumping heart drowns in the dark,
weighted by a romance devoid of spark.

her heart is as restless as a dove,
starving for infatuation & love.
his heart is empty & cold,
living life only to grow old.

the hazy contour of slender hips  
dissipates as candlelight is extinguished by his lips;
her quick footsteps & the click of a door lock
are drowned by the steady ticking of a clock.

tonight she spreads her wings to fly,
eager for takeoff & sweet goodbye.
unchained, she is finally at ease.
abandoned, he shrinks to his knees.

He cries.
& so she flies...