fragile

they met in a land of missed connections

in the year of bad timing.

he came from the clouds or

the mountains, high on expectations

but jangling with tambourine dreams

and too much energy.

she revealed herself one sentence at a time.

he was never still but very deep,

so deep she stuck to the shallows

for fear of drowning. “i’m not used

to travelling such long distances”

she said, making him ache in places

he had been ignoring for a long time too.

the laws of nature are elusive, so

when they danced, they danced to music

with a strong melody line and an

irregular beat. and when he fell apart

she patched him up, but the pieces were

deeply broken, some left behind with

old friends, in pawn shops and in

cemeteries, so she never really found him.

and when it wasn’t easy she grew hard,

falling again into a well of bad habits. while

he searched in vain for a lifeline all he

found were more needles.

there was some suspicion of a demons plot,

but forgetting the rhetoric she tucked him

under a cautious blanket, on the longest night

and pretending the ease of an opera diva
watched the closing credits roll.