Lifeline for Delusions

where you see me again
ghosts of time lying side by side
new beds new houses old homes
the closest anyone has ever come
to touching their heartbreak

my heart is a ticking clock
beating in reverse to the rhythm
of prayer uttered in the dark
whispering please, inch
just a little closer

erase the years the tears the fears
reincarnate first love with
your arm around my waist
bring back youth by lacing
your fingers through mine

i close my eyes & it smells like late
spring, a memorial to a storybook
first kiss from long ago
the spaces between us reminiscing
over your mouth on my neck

you shift closer & i wonder if it’s
on purpose, if our hands are wandering
to three years ago, if the silence is
grieving a younger set of eyes
meeting in the night, brimming with future

morning comes with rude awakening
& parallel universes are dying stars
dissipating, but you smile at me
in the early sunlight
like a lifeline for delusions

i tuck it away, a souvenir from history
think if you could just keep
looking at me like maybe
i’m still the sun, i’ll pretend
you’re thinking it too