I. Awaken

How did I find you?
Like a shifting in the winds
Of my consciousness.

II. Attraction

My love, in my heart,
And in the arms of the sky,
You burn like the dawn.

III. Detachment

Once too warm to touch,
You're now cold, and soon you're gone:
Carried far away.

IV. Blankness

How did we get here?
Like we never met at all,
Two strangers, drifting.

you don't see it
                            (you don't see me)
your eyes are new
and your spirit is still fresh
           i'm a dangerous idea
           wrapped up in flesh and blood
           i wait for you to notice
           to notice i'm not the kind who
                                 can give you love
                                                anymore

it kills me to know that someday soon

                                   i'll be the first one
                        to teach you that people
         are as hard and cold as the earth
       beneath your tender, trusting feet

that expired promises
don't keep

you changed me
me, with my steel skin
                      (young heart)
and stone gaze
       (wild)
you wonder why i pull away
                                (look your way)
you wonder why you say you love me
and why i never say
                    anything
                   (the same)

you killed me
you, the first one to teach me that
when angels finally fly your way
there's no reason they can't fade
                    into a passing glance
                           (an agonizing)
                              into the eyes of
        a once-too-familiar stranger
       (the other half of myself)

A chord of realization is struck,
Emerging from your throat.
The tone bubbles out like laughter but
Reeks of cough syrup and sorrow.

Physically well,
Mentally healing,
Emotionally kneeling to
Every broken phrase,
Spoken over endless days—
Then promises
Of progress to follow.

More bitter medicine to swallow:

Jagged edged words, lacerations,
Fleeting sense of
Motivation.

Later, a bitter pill to take.

Yet, regret tastes sweeter
Than another mistake.

We only burn for one more heartbeat:
Our tears fall through the stars,
Then all our passions melt away
In the heat of their melancholy flames.
The world quivers under
The weight of your words:
"I love her. I love her."
Your heavy breath blowing out the candles
That burned in your eyes.
As I reach to pluck your celestial body
From the lonely sky,
You waste away
Waiting to catch her gaze.
You need her strength; I need your light.
We ask one another,
"Is it worse to love from afar
Or to watch that love die?"

Shed your skin
On my bathroom floor
As muscular coils,
Shining scales,
Draw me in and out the door.
You wanted more for me than this,
But it's all I was ever good for.

She grew up on old TV shows,
Wearing baggy clothes,
And climbing trees,
Scraping knees,
Flirting with the other girls
As much as she pleased.

Her mother's a summer kind of lady,
But she'***** her October,
Heart freezing over.

Winter sweaters don't keep her warm.
Her father's arms wrapped 'round her
Are a once-every-three-months kind of
Comfort.

She's a man in disguise,
Under the soft skin and
Long-lashed eyes.
She's a renaissance man,
With a noble kind of pride,
Loneliness matching
Her long strides, beside her,
A paradoxical kind of
Comfort.

In the place of your kin I found you,
In the meadow left out to dry
Your porcelain face,
Glazed in white, glassy blood.
No carmine kiss had spoilt it
On the eve of its last breath,
But the flood, the flush
Of bluish-purple life-fluids
Decaying within your chest.

Hydrangeas will grow from the tears you wept,
And the crows will carry off the bones you left.
Is it best for your love to run out,
Rather than be caressed by death?