I Miss You is a Shore I Visit Sometimes
I saw us in a dream
The way we were before
Frozen in time
Eyes holding each other
Smiles wreathing faces
How we felt blessed
How we held time
In our hands
Held each other
Like we were precious
Our hearts beat
Blessed, blessed
The dream faded
As dreams do
And I woke alone
Woke without you
Woke without us
Woke to myself
Remembering why
But dreams are potent
They fade slowly
Slipping away in inches
In seconds
And I miss you
Doesn’t mean anything more
Than I miss you
It changes nothing
I dreamed of us
When we were happy
And woke with tears
Tracing their way
Down to my collarbone
Pooling in the hollow
Of my throat
Where your name
Is still lodged
I miss you
Changes nothing
Dreams fade too slowly
For my taste
And I taste an ocean
Salt-brine
Immense
Heavy on my tongue
As it traces the shape
Of the name
I will not speak
My heart is the sea
Swollen with memories
Flooding these shores
Bringing shipwrecks
To the surface
Where I pick through
The wreckage
For treasures
I can take with me
Our love
Is a conch shell
Held to my ear
The memories faint
And yet they hold everything
That’s no longer mine to hold
My body shapes itself
Into a diver
Plunging down from a precipice
Into that sea
And diving is the only thing
That will save me
I miss you
Is the seashell I collect
Along the shore
On a vacation that never quite
Lasts long enough
I place it on a shelf
Where it gathers dust
But every time I see it
I am returned
To the shore
I remember the taste
Of brine on my tongue
Of treasures found
From shipwrecks I brought
To the surface
With my own tears
I pick it up
Hold it in my hands
Caressing the shape
Cupping it to my ear
To listen to the traces
Fading more each time
And I miss you
Changes nothing
But I do
I sit the shell
Back on the shelf
And go make myself
A cup of tea.
