still learning, still numb

sweep an arm across the sky,

watch the scattered constellations

confessing a thousand loves.

/

lay still, and stiller still,

intertwined and silent.

hearts sync and sink.

/

falling bullet stars,

your back takes the brunt,

and I rub salt on raw wounds.

/

still, still, both so still.

I don’t know when I end.

I don’t know when you begin.

/

I can’t tell where we end,

and the velvet heavens begin.

we are iridescent.

/

words whispered, words breathed,

from your lips to my ears.

fragmented, they rise,

/

quick-burning vapor,

to join the doomed and dying loves,

that rip through your back.

/

I love you,

that’s what you said;

admission, vow, plea.

/

but I didn’t know how.

so I let your love burn in and up,

tried to feel something from the flames.

/

still still, I lie alone,

the shield of your body gone.

I still feel nothing as I’m ripped apart.

//