Warm Leather

Warm Leather               1/15/2016

Warm leather

And cold glass

Sticking to

And holding on. 

Looking backwards

I can see it

Viewed through Vaseline

Soft, fuzzy

And beautiful.

The steam rose

Encircled her face

As we huddled over coffee

So many years ago. 

Leaning forward in a black turtleneck

Her siren lips moving in a whisper

Better than perfect

Through a sideways smile.

We wandered through bookstores

And poked through antique stores

Hunting for treasure

Hidden and unique.

We didn’t know

And we didn’t fear

Half asleep

And unaware.

Brought together by something

Far stronger than we knew

But we chose to live it out

The wrong way around. 

It was then that I felt it

In the perfect dead center of the world

That we ruled the day

And we ruled the night.  

Blessed with a gift

And rich beyond measure

It was all wasted on the young

And unwise.

I thought I knew it all

But I didn’t know a thing

Barely scratching the surface

On what was

Or might have been. 

The film ends

And the tape runs out

No matter how perfect

Everything remains

Stilted and flat.

All of it nothing

Like me

Right here and right now

Meaningless and purposeless.

We all see differently

And we all go on

Afraid of the dark

Still just as deluded

The long way around.

There is no

Long lost love

There is only the choice

And the cost.

Flattened and captured

In a single bit of crystal

Oozing between my fingers

And spinning in my head. 

None the wiser

We still try

Still trying to grab

Little puffs of smoke.

I don’t know why

And maybe that is the answer

I tried

And that’s enough.