#silver key

Silver Key + Mystery Key

1:32 AM

you stretched in your sleep

and rested your head on my shoulder—

like the way a tired moon settles

on the edge of the horizon

just before dawn remembers it needs to rise

some time last week

your laughter bubbled out

of you

like a pot boiling over

to make the sweetest kind of mess

at annie’s funeral

i held your hand so tight

you could feel my heartbeat waver

and you whispered that grief

is just love reborn

first date

you tapped your finger on the table

every time i asked about yourself

and when i asked about it

you looked at your hand

and your cheeks went pink

last sunday

we argued the whole day

but i woke up with

your apology warm against my spine

and forgiveness learning my shape

marie’s birthday

we spent in hour in the store

choosing a bow

for a gift that cost ten minutes

but somehow

the bow meant more

econ class

your water bottle fell in the silent room

and you let out a laugh

big enough to swallow all fear

the library on monday after we failed our final

we laughed so hard we almost got kicked out

somehow, that failure felt

like the greatest victory

10:05 am

the sun glided her finger

down your nose

and paused to admire

the morning caught in your eyes–

i understood then why people

believe in gentle gods

the man in the grocery store

he dropped his Chessmen Butter Cookies

and you remembered i said i liked them,

begged to make them at home

i smiled

when you walked away

he whispered to me

that people like you

are rare constellations

that sailors navigate by

to the mirror

you watch as lines plump to curves

and back to lines

and you let yourself soften

like warm dough rising

then settle again

like breath after laughter

to me

you said my pen

would never sleep

but you didn’t know

you woke it up

now on the beach

you wrote our initials in the sand

then laughed when the waves took them

and i wondered how many versions of us

the tide has already carried away

you said, “it’s okay–things don’t disappear

if we remember them”

and in case one day

we don’t

i wrote all this down