“Orange moon”

Orange moon

Hanging by a thin silver strand of spiders web

Under a curtain of

white

hot

sky

Reflecting your tawny face on the crystalline sand

I hear your sighs in my ears

the swirls of cosmic thought that settle like curdled milk behind my eardrum.

I see pale feet beneath the curving shape of my legs

burned by too many walks

too many times I ran away to feel alone.

If I look up I see your hands

your breath

your hair all stained red by the arrogant circle of burnt snow hanging in the sky.

The world pushed you down to my level, offensive to the eye

a mirror image.

It’s been so long. Far too long.

If I gave you water it would only be to quench my eyes, to see the streams fall down the side of your face like dying waterfalls

who caress your parched skin with their dripping fingers.

Just breathe.

And take each small step back towards where you came,

brushing your tracks away in the sand that shines like crinkled plastic, melting slowly.

Like us.

I could hide you, or both of us, beneath the orange moon on the silver thread who judges us with her jealous eyes and clammy breath.

It would only take a moment, one moment of silence. Of nothing.

Just breathe.

If you murmured against my neck under the sand, under everything

It would shatter the earth and all that we had worked so hard to create would crumble beneath the fingertips of the small child who just had to run away. Just like us.

It’s been far too long.