one day, we’ll forget all about

the sweet dark earth that we kissed

when we danced in noon to night rain

and waded through faded ferns

that glowed a soft sage green – 

the color of the love we gave

forget how we wandered into blackness

down the asphalt, always thinking wrong

(our thoughts too much, too little, too real)

we knew that street so well

in the night’s dim, it was ours and only ours

our adventure, our battlefield, our haven

all at the same time

and we let the autumn air fill our silences

when I had stopped singing of storms

and you weren’t whispering moonlit maladies

on the cold front steps, a head rested on a shoulder

no sound but October wind, 

and that was enough

after each broken lullaby I watched you weather,

you’re the one who deserves an ode – 

so let this remind you what it was to be us

when we no longer are

you were the mud on my sneakers

the purple ink on my arm, 

the laughter I bottled for later

forest green smiles and cinnamon hugs – 

the home I made outside myself

you were you, that was all I needed