Breath like mustard gas and roses, I scare her away smiling

In my thin rimmed evening glasses and plaid pajama pants

Rambling on about the news and my imagination

To walls that have long since lost a reason to listen

To a woman who’s endured the incessant ramblings and gatherings

From papers, books, and the dimly lit attic of my memory

Recalling showers in Spring that would bring out more emotion

Than the rainbows and blooming trees that followed the downpour

Flashes of lightning and booming echoes of thunder

That came as I heaved myself up the old staircase

“No more and not again,” you would sigh from the couch

As it started to rain inside, we were lost in the storm

I placed the pots we had under the worst spots of the leaky roof

Then I joined you on the couch in front of the fireplace

I tried to ease the nagging leak, that snuck down your face

The weight of your tears was heavy on my heart

As I planted kisses over your body the heat of the fire melted us into one

We spent the night on the floor as the embers burnt themselves out

The morning was lost to a palpable silence and empty sideways glances

Words seemed to miss their mark as our shy voices hid behind the songs of the birds

It was disheartening and I could feel us gravitate away from each other

We were distant until the afternoon when we ran through the muddy woods

Letting go of our opinions and doubts about where we were headed

Holding on to the sentimentality, I can’t understand how we share this be