The Twilight Stretched by Silenced Hope

You amazed me even before we met
When I was just a man
And you were barely a thought

When heart beats met the body’s strum
I flatlined for a second
At the natural acoustics of bass and drum

You are the twilight stretched
You are the morning after
The day of
You’re a dove
With I’m possible
Stitched on your bottom lip

The roads you’ve put me on
Wrap my feet as calloused tar
And stretch before me
To where they meet the black velvet sky
The stars look down like newborns
Heads tilted curious
As they should be
To watch the stare of a one day god
Babbling good morning to every ant
Through quivering lips

You made me believe in angels
The ones that hold clouds up with fishing line
The ones that breath me easy
The ones that tape fireflies to front porches
And superglue light bulbs to candlelight
The ones that don halos and whatnots
The ones that pressure washed the moon

You are the peak I wanted
And I’ve grown to hate dime bags and tin foil
Lighters and pills
Its like they expected me to find you on my own
As if any mother could ever describe you
You’re too good for words
So I’ll paint you on every city wall
In spray paint and candle wax
Sweat and barbecue sauce
Motor oil and morning dew

You took my tongue
Played mouse with it
Left me breathless and cotton mouthed
So I learned how to sew
And I made you hats
As I pulled string between my two front teeth
Stored the seeds in my cheeks
Spat the seeds in your attic
So when they finally bloomed and grew through
Your ceiling would resemble the sky
So every day you’d wake up
To silver linings
And fishing line

You are the mistake I needed
The trip and fall into
What I fought
What I got
Was icy water in my wrist
Shell shocked
A punch in the face
Slow and steady would not have put me here
So I pray thanks with lucky rabbit feet
For the fast paced teen angst my father taught me

You are the blood music
You are satin tears of a grandmother
You are the fire in the belly
A pick up on the road
A thirty six wheeler bringing letters home

When you fell through
I was suddenly five years old again
Apologizing to the fire marshal
For the burning leaves
Too scared to lean
Too parched to think
Because you, quite possibly
The scariest thing I have ever seen

And I never want to look away
For fear of missing something others will see
And tell me about with eyes shining
Like sunlit lakes and polished sand

Your fingernails are broken mirror
Your hair, spun sugar
Your teeth have yet to grow
But you smile
Heedless
Needless of enamel
And I smile
Teeth stained from years of misuse

You were born by mistake
Kept alive when I grew up
They all want to drink you in
But I’m greedy with this cup

You will bring cubism to the clouds
With birds singing blues
Echoing off each other
With a sky canyon tune

You will shatter silver to make a shimmering night
You will kick up gas leaks
To bring rainbows to the day
You command armies of fingertips
Armadas of open road
Fleets and fleets of mocking bird tweets

And I am who knows kaleidoscope
A broken barrel leaking tunes
A pit bull with Amaze
Stamped on my forehead
With my tail tucked under
In the presence of greatness

So for now rest
I’ll fight off the endless hailstorms
With a double barreled backbone
And a handful of change

And I hope my swollen toes
Help to show
Nothing makes me happier
Than coming home
To a dove
And a love
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