Light Pollution

Do you remember
sitting on the front stoop
late at night
straining our eyes to see
plasmic orbs blazing
far beyond the flicker
of urban lamp posts?You and I would
sit for hours,
dreaming of what
the world could be
if it were ours

Unfettered. Vibrant. Lush.

I used to watch you
teeter back and forth
on a precipice,
needing to fall
into your ghosts
but frightened to
step off the earth.

I longed to shore up
your spine with my forearms,
couple your chest
carefully with mine,
and fall over the
edge together,
shielding you from harms
you dreaded
and desired.

I kissed you drunk
once at a party.
You knocked on
my door the next morning,
donuts in hand,
refusing to hear
apologies.

You gave me my first,
and only, cigarette.

By the time you were
ready to love me,
I was lying on a
patch of grass in the park,
searching the sky
for luminous pinpricks
beside another dreamer.

Photo credit: Susanne Nilsson