Why do you make me sad
even when you make me happy?
What is it in your laughter
that wounds me
even as it makes me whole?
And why does your silence
carry the weight
of burdens yet to come?
Your looks sometimes are arrows.
Your words sometimes are spears.
When anger comes upon you
your kindness hardens into a shell
your hair becomes a coarse net
that snares me
and then it is as if
our bodies have survived a shipwreck
only to discover
that they are strangers
that it would have been better
if they drowned.
But I am young
Time is on my side
I look for you because
your sad notes and mine,
whirling around us a silent melody
like a flutter of moths
make our bones lighter
and give this sadness
the noble ending
of a sunset
after a blue summer day.
***
Photo by Jordan Wozniak on Unsplash
boy with a hat 