grass clippings out on the lawn as we laughed with the girls until dawn
her long hair shined under the sun
mind tucked deep into the void of a future
scraped knees from the curb down the street
our dreams now singing us to sleep
nothing like her melody
sticking to the humidity of summer nights
that we all act like we don't miss.
i wonder, now, if she thought of me
how all of our lives were once upon a time,
so sweet.
drained down the bathtub
hanging from the ceiling
vacant space circular shaped in the midst of her honeysuckle hair
sugar cane filled our mourning with a love untouched
young and hushed
in three-bedroom houses tucked away by the bayou.
we spent only one brief year in the mighty oaks,
yet moving on from the grief brings me to my knees,
as all I'm left with is disbelief in our memories.
summertime dances and pitched tents in our garage
stolen bikes and time capsules dug deep in the sugar cane fields
how i wish i could've saved you
oh honey, what did you do?
our old tunes on repeat as she sipped her finger's nectar
"it's just a cut." she'd say,
"you can't let them bleed you away."
honeysuckle girl, i wish you had stayed.
a fleeting year, never enough to heal your pain underway
november comes each year and i weep the month away
perhaps if life was different,
i could've saved you that day.
but now all i have is the sound of a morning dove,
reminding me of all the love in that year
highway 90 as i drive back to glimpse at your old room
posters tapered to the ceilings as my heart is outback
deep in the dirt where we placed all of our stories
we all promised one another we'd come back to find them one day.
my own sadness is in the roots of that ditch
washing away as each storm tears away what i have left of you.
as i write today, i know life will never be different.
but i promise, one day i will find you.
in the buzz of the bees
in the leaves falling from the trees
ill find you and bring you home,
home with me,
where i can learn how to make you complete.
[to my childhood friend, i don't think you will ever leave me.]
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