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if life was black and white,

your cigarette would light mine,

dewy summer skin shed as

we unstick ourselves.

raspy throats and cloud breath trailing up,

lunar

path.

i’m tugged to the memories of our heeled

footprints in

dry soil, crushed leaves, frozen mud.

we were there,

we are here

were we?

i wish you stayed crystalline,

i wish I never knew you.

my feet soak up puddles,

kohl tears and pearls perched atop velvet gloves,

your black trench feebly

grasps the remaining

tortoiseshell button,

pocket stuffed with napkin notes.

you and I,

once blazing, you and I,

now starved,

soot and char of a fallen star, wax droplets

mimic Daedalus’’ despair.

jasmine still rests on my sleeves as I watch

our ashes leak

through

my

fingers,

our love choked the spark we worked so hard to ignite.

by Nia