She, Above Time

she above time.jpg

07:00

I look up to the morning sky

where watercolors emblazon you

into my mind;

the moon’s last exhale carries your perfume.

I see the curve of your brow in the fire of

cloud tops, your lips in the sun’s welcome.

11:02

Clouds gather.

I miss the days we didn’t share,

the way you didn’t run your fingers

along the side of my face just before

each kiss.

14:17

Freshwater tears

seek my shoulders. The saints weep

since I can’t.

Do the days know how you feel?

Can they sense each thought that you

don’t have of me?

The words you once wrote

bleed into a gray afternoon blanket,

your faceless lover entwined between

your legs as he looks through you and forgets

the corner of your soul

that you reserved for him.

You dream of the gold- and silver-bow kisses

he will give;

he dreams of lace

slipping from the edge of the bed.

15:58

A dull brightness

forgets the straightened hair and liquid eyeliner,

screams at the fatigued, the lonely, the one who wishes

you didn’t stiffen when you sat next to him.

I want to find ice on the ground,

something to convince me that the

longer and longer spaces between heartbeats

come from outside, anything to preserve

hope, to keep it

from growing necrotic.

18:03

My sky is fluorescent.

“You know those cartoons

where the guy throws his coat over the puddle

for the girl to walk over?

You’re the guy who does that,

then carries her over,

and your coat gets wet anyway.”

But my dear, we never got

to the puddle in the first place.

21:10

The sky is nothing.

Evening flames try to cauterize your absence,

but they can’t.

Sailor’s serenades ride the starlight,

coax me toward the sea — visions

of gold-rimmed cuffs and days where I

might not need to hold my breath and close my eyes

just before I say your name.

23:56

The lullaby of a crypt

falls through my windows. I

don’t bother to look up. Shadows glare

at the sound of tires in the distance. I stare

into my phone’s emptiness, praying

that your words will suddenly bring light.

I promise myself, I will wait.

00:00

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