A Poem: Say Goodnight

Say Goodnight
4.30.09

You brush my lips,
the retreating fragrance
gracing me with a memory
that will stick to my skin,
like the rose petals
that we consumed with our fire.

I watch the brilliance branding our sky
with dreams and hopes
of starlight, your completion
manifest in me.
You grip my hand,
and say goodnight.

The radiance shatters, splinters in my heart
as your hand slips away
and I am bereft in the dark.
Fragrance fades, and
even rose petals grow stale.

But even darkness left
in your absence is beautiful,
for it belongs to you.
Like a sick child I will hold on,
clutching with grimy hands
the things I've already lost.

Though your sun has burned a hole
now empty in this breathing heart,
and the radiance has gifted nothing but the scars
left by burns, I will embrace
what is left.
I will wander through these shadows,
your shadows,
carrying bits of you
to make up for missing pieces
of me.

In the morning's footsteps I will find an end,
whether in darkness or in light.
Until then my frozen lips will whisper
the words:
goodnight.