This One Night

Eighteen
and full of love
but with nowhere
to put it
the crying girl on
the swings
has never been
more vulnerable
or more beautiful

She tells me she
still loves me
and i love her too
but not in the
way that i used to
She asks me why
my love went
away
and i don't know
I didn't notice
it slipping
but one day it was
gone

I let her in my blazer
and freeze
in my t-shirt
I walk her home
and hug her
and try to make
her laugh
and she
smiles
but only for
a moment

I want to fix her
tiny little heart
but i can’t
The walk without
her is colder
even with the
blazer

She said she
would never stop
loving me
and i don’t know
what would be more sad
if it was true
or the real truth:

That a thought
that desperately
romantic
cannot be true
and that her love
that is so alive now
and so passionate
and so gorgeously
unconditional
will soon fade and disappear
and become nothing

Thoughts like those
don’t even cast
a shadow.