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