Down there it’s not winter, not ever really
Grass grows tall instead of snowbanks
and there I am walking with you
on a sidewalk made of
stones that have witnessed
decades more of heartbreak than I’ve tasted
and they still stand, polished by water and baptized
by piss but yet
unbroken
There we are walking
holding hands like lovers do, and me barely
able to keep the grin tied down on my
sunwarmed face, keep my feet attached
to the ground because you
you filled me up and then let me go
a careless child watching
her balloon drifting away, she didn’t
know how to hold it
And there I am walking
alone but still knowing
the feel of these stones by heart, by sure footstep
.
Here I am in winter
no sunlight to warm me, nor you
Wanna float away from all this
my helium-stretched heart expanding in my ribcage
Wanna remember
but there’s too much space
between my fingertips stretched and
the top shelf I put those memories on
so they wouldn’t break
so they’d stay safe until
I needed them, took them down to touch
the rock I picked up at that beach
where we kissed
.
Now it’s winter and
I can’t reach the sun, won’t return my calls
but I found a broken lamp on
the sidewalk, fixed it up
found a fence to climb up and watch
the parades from
Now we are walking, she and I
holding hands like balloon strings on a windy day
in this winter city
and you’re not there, not really
