Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ashes


Standing on a cliff
On a bluff by the sea
Where we once stood together
Now its just me
The wind whips my hair
To bind it into knots
The sting of salt
My own bitter memories
Coursing down my cheeks as tears
Mingle with the ocean’s spray
When you left I was lost
Wandering, a hermit-
Now freed, I have grounded again
Still I remember you
And your sweet scent-
Cinnamon and lilies
When you left it faded,
Naught but memory
Still you haunt me,
Ghost of my past-and I regret
I regret that kiss, that yes
I regret those hours
I regret you most of all
You wooed me to cast  me aside
Broken hearted
Ashes blown by a frisky wind
I knew you only as long as we dated
Two months.
Yet you left your mark
In half-remembered phrases
And a scar on my knee
In the simple words ‘I love you’
I taste the sea
I taste your lies
In chamomile and coriander
I taste your truth
In clary sage and pepper
I taste the broken heart you left me with
In copper and sorrow
You wore a mask to hide your cruelty
A mask of kind eyes and soft hands
A mask of empty promises
Illusions, broken, shattered with a word
A phrase, a sentence, an avowal now annulled
It seems you have forgotten me
To nestle within the trusting heart of another
We were over long ago
But sometimes I still remember
And then I taste chamomile
The kisses of the waves
The tender caress of salt
My cure
My angel of mercy
It washes the flavor of you from my tongue
I surface, healed
The warm rays of sunshine
Hold promise of new joy
The sweetness of summertime
Washes away cold winter
The last hint of clary sage and copper
Gives way to pomegranate and euphoria
And I am sorrowful no more
These ashes have coalesced
And you are but a memory.

(c) 2012 Marlo Fleek

No comments:

Post a Comment