long after i’m gone
this pebble will remain with
my touch turned to sand

How am I supposed to tell you
That my passion
Is so deep and fierce
A wild creature caught
Pacing against its confines
Desiring only freedom
To live as its nature requires

I want you no matter how messy it gets
And at the core of me
I don’t apologize
I can’t be sorry for this

A slowly suffocating fire
Turning fuel to charcoal
No bright flames of light and warmth
Until stoked by disruption
it sputters to life
A final intense burn
that falls into ashes

Smell the forest’s breath
Sweet pinesap, hot brush, decay
The mountain’s flesh bleeds
sharp, fine dust; rocks clot the roads
Selfish love wounds its lover

I kiss the sunset
As I wish you good morning
You bid me gute Nacht
While dawn delivers my love
Darkness never comes for us

Allow me a moment to gush
I don’t have any girlfriends, you see
No, not that way. The old way
Like the friend you call from a pink princess phone
To tell about your latest crush

I don’t have a girlfriend who
eats french fries dipped in caramel milkshake
While I describe all the ways he’s amazing
absolutely gorgeous, smart, kind
There’s no vanity in him, he just wants to be in nature
She’d offer me a cigarette (I decline, well, maybe just a drag)
Are all men in Austria like this?
I don’t know, but I’ll ask if he has any friends

If I had a girlfriend, we’d drive around town in her car
(faded smoke, Hawaiian Tropic, sun-scorched vinyl)
No destination but mischief
I’d be blushing
Because she’d ask how far we’d gotten

Well, there’s an ocean between us but
Our souls touched

When you said to me
“Fireflies in my bedroom”
You meant “Stay with me”
The wall cracked at two am
Though it has not crumbled yet