Am I In Love?

How will I know?

Does your skin burn 

                when you think of her?

Does your heart burn

                when someone else thinks of her?

Can you let it burn, and yet

                not want her singed by your flames?

 

 

How can I be sure? 

Try not breathing,

                then try not thinking about her

Which is harder,

                 and which is easier?

Look at the relentless march of time,

                and then watch it freeze in her footsteps.

 

 

Will it hurt?

As surely as you will bleed,

             if you cut yourself open

Pain as crystal as diamond

            as ancient as arctic ice

Open yourself to this pain

            and you will live beyond your age.

 

 

Will I survive?

You will wither away 

            like the sakura in winter.

But for those few moments of spring

           you will bloom like never before.

You will give life 

            in the only way a man can.

Once Upon a Time

Today I rang up some old memories,

Flames and words, kindled from dead ashes,

Resurrected some dead friends,

And gave them, a bear hug.

 

What a strange feeling,

Meeting strange old acquaintances anew,

Feeling a little hope, a little trepidation,

As a cold mug of coffee sighs of silence, on my desk.

Her, lying in my arms, in an unknown hotel bed,

Wandering down a dark alley with salvation,

A blue strappy dress over a stolen dinner,

Pinpricks of light, in a muddled past.

Today, when meeting, in person, in life,

Is a thing of unreal memory,

It is fun to reminisce with them, and ask,

Do you remember, when we burned down together?