when we cry in each other's embrace
the love leaks, stains our shirts;
like before and thereafter.
our wintery clause has little naught but
tenderness and sweets.

when you had finally entirely let me
in,
i touched a deep and dark seed that I
found most probable
and never said it aloud in respect of
your secrets
but it never changed my view of you
and I decided
to understand how to understand you
and how to heal something like that from its root while you hid your beautiful flowers i had seen all along.

she is so brave so daring
so quiet so earnest
holding the void of pain
for so long
in sleepless nights
she used to wildly dance
her unmuted dreams
such gentle spirit nests
in her heart
that the days count themselves
till darkness subsides
and laughter reinvents itself

her fierce heart is such a gift
the shape of miracle
in my tears
each day

We need conditions
We need decisions
We need delusions
We need tall tales we tell ourselves
When we walk
So much aimless
Conversing in brief
A line here
A word there
Let’s just go back to sleep

Your early inborn magic did not
fortell the whirls and winds
of the future.  The shine of
youth ended in turbulence.

Dismania, like fingers, touched,
you.  Ivy on brick, the tendrils
pierced.  Walls of
uncertainty nourished
and you, welcomed the

future.



There were no tomorrows.

Pulling you through the
mirror of myself you tore

into
uncertainty.

No Magi, not even
with gifts of surcease
brought by the force

of love
released you.


Still the running child
you crash into a future
whose spiders claw at you.

Tomorrow waits
protected
by your addiction.

Reach into the future
all you want,

you cannot tear the
crawl of your destiny

away.


Caroline Shank
10.13.2022