Color in your lies–
Promises swept underneath the rug.
Trace the curves of your tongue
And fill the void unfeeling.
Call out a name your nose remembers
And your fingers cannot forget.
Shout again to hear an answer–
An echo, your only friend.
Bite your nails in silent affliction,
All that’s broken may grow again.
Unless…
You’re the end of that nail, discarded.
There are streaks on your nose where he struck,
Bruises on your back where his words found their mark;
Dark speckles dot your side where she spat her venom
And told you you’d never be enough.
You scrape underneath the pain,
Lifting years from a canvas once bright–
Leaving chips of the lies they told you
Scattered on the floor.
You’re tracing new lines now,
In skin forever yours,
With brushes untainted
With all of those sores.
You paint upon the surface,
With pigments black and blue,
Lines of orange on your shoulders
Muddled with red.
You’re filling your canvas,
And crafting your heart.
You’re filling your canvas
Finding your soul.
You’re filling your canvas,
And starting anew.
You’re filling your canvas,
And finding you.
Tell your heart to stop building homes
For each passerby
And vagrants who just stop to eat.
Rip up the welcome mat
And suffocate
On the dust of those long gone.
Shake out the curtains
Stained with mold;
Torch them on the stove.
Breathe deeply of the spores–
The only living things
Or loving things for miles.
Take a knife to the carpets
And carve every name you’ve lost;
Start in English, end in incoherent pain.
Fill the sinks with water
Til the floors are overrun,
Soaked as deeply as your scarlet sheets.
Sit before the fireplace,
Warm your hands on vacant letters–
Full of words and nothing else.
What are promises to the fleeting
Or foundations
For these already dead?
What are promises to the fleeting
Or foundations
For those already dead?
Visit me in dreams;
It’s cheaper there–
We can talk for hours
And you’ll never be late to bed.
Visit me in dreams;
I’ll play our favorite song–
We’ll dance to violin,
I’ll smile as you hum along.
Visit me in dreams;
You’ve only to close your eyes,
Interlace your hands,
And feel your fingers in mine.
Visit me in dreams
Until you have to rise;
The sun has set upon this day
And stars begin to shine.
Visit me in dreams
Before you fade to dust,
And all are left are memories–
Iron left to rust.
Visit me in dreams
The shadow’s closing in
My heart, failing,
Beats soft for you, friend.
Visit me in dreams,
The lines are getting thin
Between the cracks of yesterday
And never, ever, again.
Take me out to see the stars
In the freckles of your eyes;
Make a wish in whispers
To tear apart decades of lies.
Take me out to see the stars
Trace them in my palm;
Call my heart with constellations,
Name each until I’m calm.
Take me out to see the stars
Until the moon descends;
Promise me beneath their gaze
To be forever friends.
Take me out to see the stars
And as each fades away
Deny that they’re forever gone
But, like you, are here to stay.
I hold you in my heart
And in my arms you sigh;
Our chests rise and fall
In quiet,
Rhythmic,
Harmony.
Your breath hitches ever so slightly
As my fingers begin to caress–
Gliding down the valleys
Nestled in your back.
My thumb finds refuge against your neck
Gently stroking
Up
To your chin
Down
To your collarbone.
You grasp my shirt tightly,
Trying to hold on
To some semblance of peace.
I breathe,
Pull you closer
In a warm embrace,
And kiss your hair like a whisper.
A sweet promise
That we are our own
And yet,
We are each other’s–
A bond unbreakable
By life or death.
Your breathing slows
As my hand rests on your lower back,
Thumb brushing ever so slightly,
Painting swirls with the other–
Looping on your shoulder blades,
Trailing down your spine.
We are alone in this moment,
Two souls intertwined–
Touching where fingers cannot reach.
My arms surround you again,
And finally feel at home.
My legs are quiet;
I try to listen,
But they’re so still–
Afraid to even breathe.
I stretch them out,
Trying to reach them,
Pushing the bones to awaken
A voice that whimpers.
Instead of coursing like blood,
It trickles–
A leaky faucet
Dripping messages like
Morse code.
I press and hear them briefly,
An echo of pain
Imprinted like ink
Stamped in ages past.
They jump at the slightest noise;
They run when I am still.
My legs are quiet;
I try to listen…
I am not a moon to your planet,
Nor an asteroid,
A rock indeterminable from another–
With or without a rose
Orbiting,
Colliding indiscriminately,
Destroyed mercilessly
With barely a scratch on your surface.
I am flawed,
Yes.
Mixed up,
Yes.
Burning up in an atmosphere unknown,
Awaiting with consternation
A calculation from constellations
To give some form of direction
I await.
I am not a convenient friend
To take out of the freezer
When time permits–
A cryogenic miracle
To thaw when boredom sets in.
Remember or forget me;
Choose one.
I am not a moon to your planet;
I am a world on my own.
Remember this or forget me;
Choose one.
I breathe;
And it feels like September,
Shades of glass
Carved like leaves.
I breathe
And every moment in-between
Feels like my last–
A past too cemented
In bones unmade by trying.
I breathe
And choke on memories
That taste of ash
And scents too sweet
For a tongue so vile.
I breathe
And all alone
The lights twinkle out
And all around is calming down.
I breathe
And make out your voice
Your laughter.
I breathe
I breathe…
Your name I still seek after.
You are light within;
The darkness cannot touch
Unless invited.
Your heart, a fortress
Softened by the truth
Whispering
That you are more,
More than your worst decisions
Even oft repeated,
Oft regretted.
Your shame is a reminder
You know better,
You are better,
And you can be better–
But not all at once.
Be patient with your fire,
Though it may not be so bright;
Feed it when the sun sets
And when it rises
Be renewed.
For as it climbs,
So shall you;
For night must end
And shadows flee again.
Moonlit Poetry 