I committed a great crime this spring.
I learned a lesson that I'll not soon forget.
I learned never to fall in love again
If I can help it.

I think about your curls falling on me,
Slipping from behind your ear
To whisper gently against me,
Your hot breath
Caressing my face
As you laugh,
Your hands
Gripping
My cheeks.

I cannot breathe. I cannot see.

Soft as silk.
Inviting as a desert spring.
My Sihaya:
I'll think of you
Whenever I see a field of wild sunflowers,
Whenever an opossum
Loiters on my porch,
Whenever I hear a joke.

My love drowns in the spring.
My heart sinks beneath the hills.
The early evening wind
Ushers in a thousand more morings
Without you.

I am lost. I cannot see. I cannot breathe.

I cannot see.

I cannot breathe.