cloudshapes

I flirted with disaster.

She gave me her number, and a look that said
“Write this down.”
Caught up in a
Whirlwind romance
In a quake that shook the stars
from the sky
(like apples, torn from
someone else’s tree)
and buried them
in her hair.
Caught in the throes
Of some ultraviolet catastrophe.
That beautiful girl
Chainsmoking dreams.

I managed
Small triumphs.
She let me console her.
Once or twice.
I held her
close enough to hear her
hot breath. And feel her
Gasp. Chest to chest as my hand
slid down her back.
We hid behind
stolen thunder
and borrowed clouds from
back-alley dealers of mist and illusion.
One kiss. Filled with silent light
and three encounters
in darkened hours
of quiet days.

And the danger in her eyes
when she knew
all i wanted was to shatter
her addiction
smash her storms to cloudshapes
and harmless smithereens
to tear her pain away, so hard
It broke us both.

Because I cared for her
more than she could handle
and loved her
more than she could take.
So she gave me her cigarette
And whispered
“hold this instead”

and I did.