The night sucked in it's breath
Inhaling the wind like a cigarette.
Her memory was all I had in the darkened woods,
by myself,
beneath the tall, rustling trees
where we first met.
I wondered alone the whys
and pondered the what nows.
What am I doing here healing
in the place that hurts the most
to remember the feelings
I have for her?

Smoke from the fire exhales
in my direction in sparks and pops.
My teary eyeballs burn and I shut them tight
against the onslaught of suffocating thoughts.
All I can do is wait for
the wind to change directions
like I know it will in a moment.
But right now she's not here
to help me breathe
like she was not long ago.
Her head upon my shoulder,
watching the flames so peacefully.

How I wish things could have gone so differently.
Years later I left her behind without saying good-bye.
I found her again when she so graciously
opened my eyes from my burning, raging reality.
I was adjusting to the light
when she died young...
on that heavy-breathing October night
because a car came over from the other side of I-26
she no chance to say good-bye.

11/04/2010

Posted on 11/04/2010
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