I.

You find me in a crowded room
(we are both wearing stripes)
cover me with your leather jacket
kiss me mid-sentence
then cover me with you

I am not allowed to love you
(so other people say)
but you come home to me anyway
kissing behind closed doors
make some love, make some secrets, make some drama

We are sappy made-for-TV movie:
I say "don't go with her"
You say "I can't help it I love her"
I say "but I love you"
You say "I'm sorry"

II.

You find me again a year later
(both secretly missing the other)
you need to see me, you have to see me
like maybe you knew

You kiss me mid-sentence (again)
up against the house
thunder and lightening agree
and we lay tangled in the dark
with an easy comfort

We are sappy made-for-TV movie (again):
You say "You've never lost anyone close to you?"
I say "no"
You say "I hope you never do"
and I kiss your sad eyes good-bye
on a drizzly Saturday morning.

III.

I hear about the accident
(names withheld)
and I know before I know.
Seven days I saw you last.
Seven days, add them up.
Wednesday you called,
didn't leave a mesage.
Thursday everything goes black.
Seven days and this cannot be real.
I imagine your heart crushing
wonder if it compares to how this feels.

You don't call anymore.
I look for you in our old house,
the bridge by the post office,
the park where we once talked all night:
you are everywhere
and nowhere all at once
and I am the real wreck.

IV.

The little funeral epitaph card says
"Do not miss me for I am all around"
You're not in this body before me--
this body that made such a mess of me
arms that held me close
lips that stole my soul.

Months go by.
I am still breathing in, breathing out
Like a rusty metrome
And you are still turning into ashes,
turning into dust

"Do not miss me for I am all around...
I am the glisten on the snow."

The snow glitters all around me
like God spilled the stars
just for you and me
(although now you are the stars)
I lie down in the glisten
I lie down in you
Snow angels for angels.

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