I Miss You
You were waiting for me,
The sun met your skin,
Absorbing rays like they were yours to take.
I almost skimmed past,
But you caught my attention,
The right moment – our moment.
Golden locks settled inside you.
There was something clean about you,
with the smell of warm grain,
bitter flowers, rain left on timber.
Your smile was thick,
leaving a white line that lingered.
Warmth escaped your soul,
Ready to have a lasting effect.
I remember how cold your skin felt,
how tiny droplets gathered,
and slid between my fingers.
You carried the weather with you,
And left it on the scarred wooden table.
When you laughed there was a brief rush of breath,
a quick bright hiss.
You never filled the silence with stories;
you let the space between us settle,
into something worth keeping.
I watched the afternoon pour itself
through your amber body,
until the whole room borrowed your colour.
Every time I leaned closer the smell changed,
bread becoming citrus,
citrus becoming something green.
You left your mark without touching me,
only a damp circle
where you had been standing a moment before.
The kiss lingered,
softer now,
carrying sweetness
only after the bitterness had already passed.
The white at your mouth slowly disappeared
while the gold beneath it grew deeper in the fading light.
The last of the sunlight rested inside you
like a small fire refusing to burn out.
I tipped my head back
to catch your final words
before they could disappear.
