Perhaps

I will wake unto every morning and hope

I'll know what you once were.

I'll open my eyes shimmering

night dust off, wondering;

 

had I spent more time holding your hands

rather than scouting some

unknown future tenses

in deep rows of lines carved

 

into your palms,

would I've been happier?

 

Had I tugged more fiercely upon

your curls tangled beforehand rather

than pushing against unmoving boxes

filled to brim with remedies of past,

 

could we have laid here forever

as one?  Perhaps, I would not need

words to fill the void where

so peacefully

 

your body twisted against mine below

the sun.

Had we played it more solemnly

perhaps we would never have to

find ourselves miles away, eyes wet,

in someone else's dusty bed.

 

And if I were to pull some rattled strings

I would let myself be dragged backwards

through messy capitals and undergrounds

and every picture we were ever in

 

and every story that found its end

in a heavy crest I long before sunk.

But no such strings wire us together.

And I jumble up words instead

 

making weak ropes that every now and then

pull me up above the surface.

Reviews

[Patrick]

52 views and 2 reviews...sometimes i wonder what people are reading and do they just give up!
Ive never come across your work before so im smiling that I found this...lump in my throat is utterly inadequate to explain my reaction to this... i think some have tried to play on the 'perhaps' 'maybe' title before and not done it justice..but you have, you have!

[Little Birdie]

Ahh, thaaaaaank you! So much! You've made me smile as well.

[~]

"unknown future tenses, in deep rows of lines carved, into your palms"...this line haunts me. I think it is because it makes me think of life lines on a hand. It is as if had you not been attempting to read a palm for signs of the future, you would have seen the present, and not have focused on the past. This is a very questioning poem that anyone who has suffered the trauma of a lost love, I think, could drown in. Having been someone who has struggled to the surface of those waters myself, I can tell you, "jumbling up words" is what keeps you afloat after you have sunk like a stone in love. I am so happy to have stumbled across this poem. Well written, poet. It was very relatable to me personally.

[Little Birdie]

What a lovely review, thank you so much for taking time to read! I'm glad you liked it, since it's been some rocky, unproductive three months for me. Thank you, honestly.

[~]

Ah, writers block is a pain in the behind. I hear you on that one. You are so very welcome for the review. It was completely my pleasure to read :)

[Larry Dyson]

love the shadowed nuances you paint..

[Little Birdie]

Thank you so much! I didn't think it was any good honestly, I was just insanely happy for finally writing something again after three months. But thank you so much, really!