You were melancholy,
Hushed moonlight,
Looking down upon me
When my own ocean was too heavy to
On my own bear.

You were the shadow on the underside of leaves,
The crinkles of a smile,
The beginning of a laugh.

I had wanted so much to take that
Beginning in my hands,
Kiss it,
And bid it adieu,
Have it fly
With well wishes under its wings,
But I kept it warm in my
Palms too long.

When I recalled it,
Opened my hands,
I found it limp and dying there,
So I buried it before it could know
An end.

That night, autumn came
and the moon hid its face
behind the clock tower.