the fan's constant hum.
As the people pause,
portraits caught in lit windows
as they step outside with naked feet
as they search the blind heavens
for some sign of the stars
And you and I, here
doing what people do
What the conditional acceptance of our birth
prepared us for the moment we drew breath.
The way I'm doing now, inhaling to hold
a moment that was gone
before the warm skin beneath my fingertips
before the thin skin over your eyes opened
before I could be lost.
And in the background, I could see
The shape of us, as we ran
through the lightning storm
My yellow dress dripping rain
your heartbeat's thunder under my ear
A shape I tried to etch into my heart
A shape I begged the springy muscle to remember.
I don't know so much about beauty
how to recognize it, call it by name
I know only the soft currents of the blood
and the way the tides work
One an instinct that held me to your chest
One the salty undertow calling me home
And that one word we held on our tongues the whole time
Goodbye
