At some stage the personal, as experienced by a clumsy poet, becomes the universal and is let out for all to see. Edited this about 6 times this evening, glad to report, the bitterness did not make the final cut.

The end has slightly changed though

Pic (which is so much nicer than my manipulation of it) by Sian Madden at Swallow Barn

You are a curious, consummate distraction
Summer storm drifting in from the west
Nature falls quiet, in awe of the tension and the promise
Leaves flutter nervously, teen dancers attempting a waltz for the very 1st time

The world grows dense
I can almost feel the lightning on my tongue
The past will be washed away
If I let this continue another day
The thrill of the thunder will simply take hold

And the future will change
The rainfall starts subtle
Then growls and howls, a bruised rock band
And the future will change
Then it’s pouring, then it’s exhaustive, exhausting
I’m finally awake, dreaming yet awake
In this motion blur
Of furious thoughts and electrical impulse
Falling up, now floating, falling down, now crashing
The start is also the finish
The circle redrawn.

I was walking nowhere one night
2 am, watching the moon rule serene and oblivious
And I thought
I seem to have almost been married to you
But without the words, the ceremony, the proposal or the courtship
Without the marriage bed, the in-laws, or the affairs
As if I had to leave on a journey, far away
And you took a boat to another world far away
No letters, no voicemails or messages

‘And yet’ I thought, ‘somehow, we talked endlessly’
Waiting for our moment.
We lived several lives
Days of wonder, days of heartbreak

And even now we exist, a million miles apart
I get up in the morning and you are there any way
I go to sleep and your words still fall on me

The future changed, keeps changing
You were a lovely distraction
But nothing about you now seems real, but it maybe real in a week or two
A storm of surprises, I imagine you smiling, a smile that perhaps i do not want to know, or a smile that i just have to know

even now
The universe explodes, then reforms, rewinds
Hurtles through space
The night sky