november and december

A hand sears pale, yearning skin

Searing imprints

A voice that sings three words

My mind grasps and clings

Remember, remember

The touch, the kiss, the favored words

There’s nothing else

The heat cools

Imprints slide off my flesh

The words echo and fade

A door sucks shuts

Reaching, reaching

A picture, a memory, the fleeting contentment

Everything around me moves, I am still

The crowd sways, pushes and whirls

Fear has frozen my soul

‘ifs’ claw my heart and shred my mind

The crowd is deafening, drowning whimpered pleas

Crumpled to the floor

Hands pressed to ears, eyes clenched

Come back, come back

A touch dances across sculpted cheek

Brushes strands from darkened eyes, lifts me from my knees

Face pressed to chest, arms enveloping

A shudder or resignation

A glimmer of hope

Hold on, hold on to it, hold on to me, hold on to hope

---

Your words

Contradict my state.

wanted around all the time

Alone, tear-soaked in the dark

Loved forever except

When sick, tired, and stressed.

Faithfully waiting you

Who will be there ‘sometime’

Every piece needing to believe

The words you say

A tear of doubt burns

Across the cheek

Worthless, unwanted and used

Almost a week with

No sleep

You’re unaffected and I

Am dying inside

Homeless without those arms

Hopeless without those words

A one way street

We’ll sleep together

Forever, except

When there are better plans

Loved conditionally to blindness

Your words

Contradict my state