love gifts

Opaque & Porcelain

nameless characters

The windows were wet from nightly rain. She sat on a wooden bench, and dropped her fingers heavy onto piano keys. Dust rose up and clouded her vision, or was that the wine seeping into her blood stream? With sleepless eyes set on the doorknob, and wonder on her brain, she questioned his return.

Words were traded, violent ones, and both of their hearts took a beating. That night was like a match that should have never been lit. And what of the smoke, what did it besmear? Our feelings, brought forth from quiet evenings when your toes would curl under the same sheets as mine... Or from breathless runs into the woodland?

But in truth, nothing was discoloured in her gaze. He belonged here, right in this very room of cluttered things, amateur paintings, and the pale chrysanthemums they picked out last week. As her watercolours needed moisture, she needed him.

She was dreaming when he returned. He tried to keep her from stirring. Two days gone, and it had already been too much. The weight of another's thumping heart was frightening as it beat for life in his hands. Hours of sulking misery and desolate replays of that dreadful speech had his mind and body in overdrive. He walked until he reached the edge of the town, and saw nothing but the bleak unfamiliarity of roads untraveled, streets uncrossed. Looking on, what other option was there than to return to her? What he wanted most was to feel her tawny skin warm under his touch. He scolded himself for leaving, and for the exaggerated absence.

So when he entered past the doorway, thin from hunger and filthy from earth's ripe dirt, he stripped down to bare half of his body. After washing his face in the sink, he slipped into bed with her, however tardy and unhurried. As his arms fell atop of hers, she remained still and asleep. He whispered his celestial wishes, and how they could only come alive with her. Traveling alone just led to tired paths and stretching wounds. 

"Did you ever love me, darling?"

"I loved you in my sleep, you never left me there."

Pictures by Elizabeth Sarah

Dear doomsday,

We went to a foreign country to meet. I crossed cobblestone  and wet gravel to come to this bar. Glass lanterns filtered the light dark green and you were seated so calmly, waiting.

I sat close to you on a chipped stool and disrupted the silence.  Hellos slipped across our faces before you stood to enclose me in strong arms.  The rules have changed; for there are none here and we are away from judging leers and expectations.  Could you touch me again, please. My mind whispers other wishes as we begin conversation. We ask of common things, but there's only one thing I wanted to question…

I wonder if you'll answer my eyes when I look to you, knowing that if you do, I'll stumble through my next few lines recovering from your heavy, penetrating stare. Is this where we share our moment of truth? Suppressed adoration and infatuation could come clean, but it won't. Not just yet. It will come one day in a letter, a letter brought forth from clouds and rain and the mailman's hands.  It is the easy way out.  Press some paper or device between our words and gain courage that you lose when your face is within kissing distance of mine. But I fear this confession is a fictional dream.

We leave before we've even had a sip of juice and wander towards rolling grass and white weeds.  Here it is, the only taste of intimacy I'll ever get (with you). You and I are the only beings within 20 miles of this land, and you choose now to be shy. You point at the sun closing its eyes when I recall standing in your apartment, seeing a glowing peach fall behind our city. The horizon looks a bit different tonight.

What were we to do? Standing like soldiers in the evening musk… Fearing the walk home because it will be an endless journey in opposing directions. Is it so difficult to invite me with you? I would come. Quietly, I would come into your life.

But you never asked. Beneath that goodnight kiss against my cheek, I know you were burning for me. Why did you let me step away? A defeated soul carried me to my stairs before my body coiled up in disappointment and graced the floor. I sunk, and you could have saved me.

1:27 am