Well you'd rather feel
Vibrant and wired
Live fast,
Die young,
regret nothing.

you won't slow down, not for
anyone (who cares what they say, right?)
Soaking in the sunlight
trying to become an illusion.

someone like you hasn't got time
to sit around and talk about songs you used
to like
and
people you haven't seen
in such a long time.

I suppose I liked you better when
you'd get up early with me to watch the sunrise
falling asleep on each other's shoulders
waiting for our lives to begin.

but now you'll only watch the sunrise
if you've got 20 different pills in your gut,
a cigarette hanging from your mouth.
You've looked better.
the sun and I miss you.

if ever you wonder
if ever your heart should grow curious
for lust and love and spirit
electricity that splits the spine
a jolt of lightening
rushing through wide open veins
baby hairs standing on end
on the nape of your neck
a wave of cold sweat
dripping through your hair
moistens your back
if ever a moment passes
if ever you refrain from yelling loud
sing a melody
scream “i love you”
skip through a crowd of people
and smile
laugh
dance
and forget your worry
the temporary madness of yesterday
because you are static, ecstatic
you are wonderful

And when I molt
you make a headdress of the selves that
have fallen from me with time.
Like you, they are colourful and cautious.

And as you carefully creep skyward,
I throw myself down in the cool grasses
of your lengthening shadow.
I was tired. It made sense to rest.

And so we played with feathers and inches
as children do.
Running in circles and circles until we fell asleep holding hands.

What were we,
but our love?

You said your words always came in threads
Stitch me up
patch up my insercutries with your sewing machine lips
let me use them to sew the memory of you into the fabric of my mind
I want to embroider our broken pieces and make a quilt out of us

I am the sun & I have only just begun
To understand how to get up
Climb into the sky
Try not to cry
Keep the rain at bay
The way the world needs me to
I have nothing left to do
My bag of tricks are worn to bits
And I'm left, tumbling
I'll fall away,
And night
Replaces me, replaces the day
When I managed to make it up long enough to shine.

Constellations settled high above us,
the endless night,
deep as the ocean.
The moon lies watching us
shedding light over the dense forest,
yawning, waiting for her brother to take over.

Misty vapors sit over us,
Our eyes shut, listening.
My casual garden of Eden
your fragrant strawberry gum,
clouded by the poison of your rude cigarette,
and the soft rose perfume you always wear.

Whispers of a breeze float by,
blowing hair over your gaunt cheeks.
When your patience is finally exhausted,
you sit up, your voice ripping the silence.
I hear your carefree tone,
but see a traveler in your eyes,
with the weight of the world,
resting on your shoulders.
The rotting facade strapped on each day,
cannot conceal just how much
you want to vanish,
endlessly searching for an escape,
longing to be a ghost.

But you pick up another cigarette
and breathe.