When the highway noise
Lists in my head
When the smile meets the corners of my eyes
Driving one window down
My brain busy
My watch unpolished
I wonder a second long enough
Not seeing
Not sleeping
I am found tapping my fingers in dance
Circling underlining strips of past battlefields
Crash!
It all comes together
Nervousness of new
And newer
Makes me sick to my stomach
We’ve got this
I say -not believe
We’ll make it through
Is more truthful
And I tell it to myself
I balance you on a memory
Have you recite all the words
The weeds with their gossamer heads
Explode into view
Memory begets memory begets memory begets you
Here with me now
Safe and sleeping as if the dragon’s den did not await us
Safe and sleeping as if your journey will not be long and solo
Safe and asleep as I long to be
Come the morning I will miss you
Feeling off-center
Lean into the collapse
Inevitable
Sleep begrudges me
A closed eye
A half recollected dream
The sheer force of people talking
A wind a river rushing along
I stand on the bank and consider setting in a toe
When I know he would dive in
AbyKittiwake 