Bitter as it is red

I.

we sang walking beneath the trees

and down the concrete sidewalks

from the marble stoop of our hostel

you wore your favorite handcrafted beanie

as we walked down the stairs

and you told me your knees were cold

on the landing below the staircase

the people on the street could hear us yell

and sing the words chalked on the building walls

I'd been growing out my beard

and hiding the scratches along my chin

from when my arm clipped the motorcyclist

in france

it was then that I learned not to trust you

and the way your eyes lure a pressing danger

your lipstick bitter as it is red

leaving evidence like prints at a crime scene

that I had once been in love

II.

oh Lord i'm overcome

still air in the hotel lobby

prayers reverberate in my mind

i tried to remember your words last night

or the smiles you once gave me

whenever you met my gaze through a window

your eyes were either red or green

depending on your dress, or the last time you'd cried

and i thought i'd taken you away from that place

i want to take your face in my hands

and tell you everything is fine

but today we'll go for a walk instead

III.

I held her body in my arms

my face against her stomach

her legs kicking beside my head

and she was laughing

she rested her arms on the pillowcase

her wrists crossed above her tangled brown hair

her body rising and falling with every deep breath

and I was reminded of the tree dying outside our window

she slept the winter by my side

and we watched the frost creep along the glass

like splinters and frigid spiderwebs

hiding the light so we could sleep 'til noon

we eventually left the French countryside

with a bag of chalk and bandages on my face

a book of poems and kindness in her eyes

and set off to find a city where the streets still echoed desire

I'd met her last summer outside a bakery

standing on the busy streets I could never navigate

but with a taste for wine and a lust for her ruby red lips

I thought her light in me would never fade

now I hold her body in my arms

my face against her stomach

her legs kicking beside my head

and she is weeping

(8/8/2008)