Leap Day (NaPo 30)

Dark curls springing to a velvet walk

As her caramel voice wraps my tongue

In the sweetest silence.

A connecting train sweeping me up

Pulling away from Lonely Station

Without even a note or postcard left

To tell the old me where I've gone.

The heaviest thing I'm traveling with

Is the smile that can barely lift my eyes.

Would you stay when the light fades

And the terrors shake me awake?

Is there a hope that my hand you'd still hold

In the moments where minutes turn to hours?

Teardrops taste like candy when I'm with you,

But I've cried a Wonka river

And smell like a bitter, desert floor,

Cracked and hard as sun-baked nougat.

Who am I kidding, adjusting my Lancelot collar,

Thinking that I could find a blade

That would carve this stone out of my chest?

Just let me sit and sew myself back up

And I promise I'll be scarce like February 29th.