I’m just trying to push
the hurt out through my veins

I’m just trying to
bleed and bruise my way out

I’m just wondering if
I can make my pain physical and valid

Always amazed in eerie incantation,
our love captured in time,
frozen on still image;
black and white, translucent,
I fill in for lacking colors.

Embracing on town boulevard,
birds fluttering on autumn sky
place where we met in afternoon-lit shops,
the old cafe were we danced
brimming with wanderlust souls.

Pretentious foliage with a warming hug,
dancing orange-blue flowers on cream dress,
dangling jewelry: rings, golden bracelets,
red lip imprint left on dreaming face,
intertwined lives, encompassing forever.

Our memories play like old movies,
your clean perfume, dropping rivulets,
past left behind, dirt on shadows,
anything I would do to go back
where gentle whispers summon smiles.

I’m back, a ghost town years later
from a love that never was,
desperately searching through places,
the ones we explored together,
I mutter your name to utter strangers-

Voice braking, quivering frown,
frustration, on descent,
a numbness with no light,
silence, for no one has seen you since,
this old photograph, the only witness left.

And my eyes were shining
Like a blazing summer day,
Chocolate, caramel swirl
Toasted coffee, brown,
From a settled gaze upon a girl
With her face pristine, pale,
Tinged salty cheeks ruby red,
Light dress flowing, shy frame
Around her, in swirl azure,
Attire matching waves
I was fond of, knew too well
Our windows collided, exploding colors
Her eyes watering grey sky,
Face burning, nervous smile;
Beauty never seen upon this land,
She reached out for me
And the clock stopped ticking,
I compared my hand to hers,
Calloused from my fishing ways,
And her dainty fingers, trailing arms,
“Pen and paper are my favorite ones”
For she was a poet, she told me once
And I just someone who traversed the sea,
She went on to write stories of me,
Tiny island, complicit to crime,
We bathed in sinned ocean water,
“By the sounding sea we live!” she chimed.