beautiful vices come to me
after midnight when I let go
of thinking and controlling

it’s the rush, you know?
of saying yes when no is
the answer that balances
this version of perfection

I’m egged on by the desire
to tip the scales just a little
and feel the lash of heat
that reminds me I’m alive

to be good and know better
but to simply choose not to
is the true flicker of freedom

You talk to me in ways that heat me up. Feelings that make me look away when you stare into my eyes; a gaze that says this could be a thousand times more than what it is.

two people loved each other
but missed one another
by a single thread

in the same building
she waited for the elevator up
while he took the stairs down

the ding of a heartbeat
prompts her to walk in
as he walks out

they cross each other’s minds
but there is no glance back
no piercing eye contact

they simply pass by each other
quietly, surreptitiously
not realizing their proximity

to the hopeful fate
that they have wished for
but which remains unreachable

one day you meet someone
you didn't expect to meet
and everything you thought
you knew goes out the window
the logic no longer makes sense
the only things that make sense
is the sound of both of your hearts
beating and the smiles etched in
your eyes and the way little fizzy
sparks heat up inside your gut
like you're about to go skydiving
or bungee jumping, thrill-seeking
like this feeling is an indescribable
black hole that is swallowing up
your heart, your core, your being

I ponder about choice
the weight of it on man

for a wolf does not choose
to slake its thirst unjustly
and an overbearing oak
does not refuse the sun

yet man drinks lest he refuses
demands and reasons
towards the imminent dark
or what’s left of the light

It was a day like any day, walking nowhere in particular, when he turned to her and told her, "One day, we'll miss this moment."

With that simple sentence, a murky pang of sadness settled deep inside her. He wasn't a poet, but maybe he should have been.

Would we yearn for the most simple day, one day? The most mundane sunset, the walk to nowhere...

Knowing that time cannot be held onto—that each day together also brought them farther apart, that they would never be as close as they were in this moment.

It reminded her of a scribbled journal entry from long ago; how the happiest memories always became the saddest ones.

She held his hand tighter in resignation.

They continued on.