The Necklace

You are a memory I keep hidden in my pocket,

A sigh tucked in the corner of a bureau drawer,

I keep you under my tshirts right where my heart should be.

If ever the chance comes to shut the doors,

Lock up the windows, check the blinds,

Turn down the lights, hide under the covers

Of a bed transposed, I'd reach far back

In that chest of mine, and you would emerge

Drenched in the light of your glorious smile

And you'll throw back your head and laugh.

I'll reach out to touch you, to hold your hand

So I might pull you close to me for 20 seconds

of your heartbeat again.

But it rains. the torrents blur the lines of memories

Of warms sweet pine sap and clean hospitals,

the freckled softness of your skin,

the ink of notes your song placed on the bathroom sink.

All your colors run together as they caress my face

And pull out all the tender spots that ever would be.

My world falls apart because you cannot

Hold me together with your arms.

You can't whisper wishes for a future immaculate

Nor stones upon which I should step,

and my body breaks in two without your voice.

I wipe my eyes, blink.

I open up to see you everywhere,

Captured in a frame, traced on my skin,

Lacing my clothes, hung on my walls,

Perfuming the air, draped on my doors,

And embraced by gold placed on my heart

Precisely where you will forever be.