Slow dance

This poem is about you and how

You leave licks of naked flames

On my skin, with imperfect

Fingers lingering, drawing

Ancient symbols I’ll never decrypt,

Marking me.

 

It’s about how your eyes burn

Right through my soul, forcing out

Unfamiliar sentiments that float

Above our shoulders, and I dare not

Hang them on your white walls. This poem

Is about how we slow dance.

4 am

It’s  4 am

As it was, almost a week ago.

I’m thinking it must mean something,

The fact that I can’t sleep now

And  I’m writing you this

Because it’s never too early.

 

I love you at 4 am

Not now, but I did a week ago

When we had just got back.

I was half drunk with sleep,

Yet I still waited up for you

Even though it was way too late.

Oak

I never claimed to posses you;
Love does not seek to do so,
Yet you had planted your heart
In the shadow of my oak,
And while my roots were nourished
By the soul of the earth,
I felt yours starve.

We drank from the same cup,
Neither of us ever fully satisfied;
Our togetherness was crowded,
Choking the life out of love.
We coudn’t change the course of love,
Even as we headed for treacherous rocks.
Battered, lifeless bodies washed up ashore.

Turning tables

Dark haired girl, you

Rub ashened elbows with the window sill,

Cursing your neck for not being long enough.

You can barely see inside

But you already know how this scene goes,

This is how it looks like from the outside.

 

You know you will  still wear your pretty smile,

Even though it’s too tight around your chest,

As you serve up today’s cut of your soul

And lay it on his plate beside the vegetables

Then feel every bite tear your flesh from bone.

But you still won’t say a word.

 

Sad eyed girl,

You will learn to upturn the tables and raise hell,

Pick up your self respect laying at the door

Where he will no longer be wiping dusty lies off his feet

As he walks in to claim your body,

Because you own it, you always did.

Complicated

My heart stops  as you reach out

And take my face in your hands.

No words bear more meaning

Than those that curl out of your mouth.

 

Hurt wraps its fingers around longing

As they both fight to be felt.

Neither of us is surprised by how it plays out:

Me too, I say  as I match your smile.

 

It ends, as usual, when we start pretending.

You say it’s complicated between us

I nod in silent agreement;

It only is because you make it so.

 

 

Me

 

Would you stay if I

Showed you

Me?

In my mind

You handle it all

Way better than I do.

You

Look for places

To get lost in

Yet never lose yourself.

I let

Emotions

Tumble down

Like

Rolling stones

That somehow always gather moss.

That’s the thing with me

I never am content in being

As I am,

I

Build my house

With your words

Then look for your heart

In phrases you uttered

Half awake.

That’s how

I lose

Myself.

Seasons

I still remember how it began, you creeping up on me
Like the changing of seasons, I barely noticed the falling leaves.

But I will always swear I saw you coming,
Just  to have something to go back and forth about
Because I like our idle banter, and  the look in your eyes
When you rise up to a challenge.

Like when the  ground was soaked in rain water,
And you led us down that mossy trail in the park .

After two hours I knew we were lost, but I didn’t mention it
For you wore determination  like war paint on your face
And when you took my hand just as we found our way back,
I promised myself not to read too much into it.

So when the world was covered in white, and you had to leave,
It took me by surprise how much  I feared saying good-bye.

But you stayed a while longer and helped me make a snowman.
I used smooth stones for his eyes so when he  would finally melt
We’d know the exact spot where I let the words slip out,
Right before you sighed and pulled me in.

It’s getting warmer every day, there’s something in the air.
It’s the changing of the seasons, I know how to look out for it.

-Miss Daisy

Promises

Isn’t it funny, how we all
Wear our hearts on our sleeves?
We keep them hidden
Like the magician does his cards.
We look each other in the eyes
As we promise not to let ourselves fall.
Slowly, you and I make our way
Towards the cliff’s edge.

When we finally come to our senses
We will throw blame like stones
As we pick up our broken pieces.
I will shake the dust off my clothes
Swearing to deny it all as long as you do.
And even as the tears choke me
I will not admit it to myself,
Because I can’t let you win.

-Miss Daisy

Clouds

Old friend, it’s strange meeting you here.
Remember the last time we met, we
Shot for the clouds, but never quite made it
So we built castles in the air
And laughed our hearts out
To soothe the sting of disappointment.

Here we are again, this time you and I
Are far away from home but I can
Still make out your face in the moonlight
That plays hide and seek in the clouds.
You look me in the eyes and it scares me,
What if we did make it this time?

I can almost hear you whisper it,
That we’ll not let history repeat herself.
That’s the sound of an adventure to me
Ringing louder than my fluttering heartbeat.

-Miss Daisy

Shadows

My lost wanderer,
We really must stop
Meeting like this, half hidden
In shadows in this deserted alley
Where the smell of your skin weaves
And winds itself with the stink
Of cigarette smoke and alcohol.
When will you finally let me
Try to find my smile again?

Maybe I shall find it by
Playing back the sad tones
Dancing in your voice and
The way you sing my name,
Then say I look better today.
I will not forget the sound of your
Footsteps approaching from behind
That rings in my head for hours
Long after you disappear into the night.

Don’t you know that after you leave
I walk to the wall where
I rested my head as I held your body?
Where my dress soaked up your blood
Too precious to let it flow into the soil,
Where I slept with you in my arms
Waiting for help to come, where
I watched your eyes lose the light,
And you wasted your last breath saying my name.

-Miss Daisy