on Vivian
Who we've been, who we are, who we can be.
It's criminal that
you never got to
stand in sunlight and
breathe the mountain air
That you're only here
through imagining
who you might have been
if you had the chance
You haunt the outline
I stand in each day
phantasmal, but quiet
a deep specter felt
Yet, your song rings loud
vibrating through my
dancing fingertips
as they trace your will
Your eyes looking out
into mine, gazes locked
in a foggy mirror
clear in their intent
Lipstick rolls across
your lips, painted, pained
This is not what's right
A kiss, then do wrong
A clip binds your hair,
its shape near perfect
A bang brushed aside
A message clear sent
I take you in hand
You take mine in turn
A squeeze, a promise
A shake, guarantee
You fade to moonlight
and I wear your coat
A carried promise
Vivian will live
In hair bound in shape
In lips painted black
In a clear-eyed gaze
In an echoed song
Ghosts give way to tears
that stain wet the ground,
blooming flowers, vivid,
as you always are
So I find sunlight
among the mountains
We stand together
and take a deep breath
