Prelude to Artillery

a poem i wrote in my free time about nostalgia i had for someone who didn't even exist

The air of the park seems to whisper
Breath hung suspended in a white cloud
Point to a single snowflake and close your eyes
Your profile against the sleeping city

Your eyes hold mine in a soft cage
Whisper of your acceptance
Head bowed under the gentle press of trust
Speckle of light from across the street- illuminating emptiness

Scuff of footsteps on cracked cobble
The rain sings before it darkens the pavement
The walk home is shorter than our heartbeats
They keep the tempo of nostalgia

To stare at the stars from a rooftop
A loon sings of desperation
To strain to listen with your entire being-
This city throbs with heartache

Your delicate indexing of hope
Pressed flowers faded by separation from earth
Words that are beautiful in their isolation
Thoughts- “every moment is is the only moment”

Dawn points to the inconsistencies in the frost
Ozone fills the cracks of my vision
Heartbeat quickens in the periphery
Creeping thyme has spread to the edge

Dark eyes glitter in the water’s silver cast
Beach glass rests in faded rows along driftwood
Your hand brushes mine as it reaches for the stars
Waves are proud to reflect this galaxy

You understand that dark and light are the same
Two animals curled inside each other’s crescents
They breathe on the edge of the universe
They are not the absence of light nor the presence

To grow old on this same hill is to become
To watch the ashes of the forest settle into a canyon
The sky churns with rage
It has not learned how to erase the changing

I will remember you
Lifting your face to the gentle rain
Polishing purple sea glass on your faded jeans
Sitting for hours with your ear against a tree, listening

I will remember you.