Standing next to a telephone pole,

In a waitress uniform.

Sweat dripping from my brow.

 

I’m waiting for him.

My brother is on the other line.

I had no idea that these blue-signed pay-phones still exist.

 

Looking at my self from a distance.

Lucid eyes bring me back in time

To a foreign land I once lived in long ago.

 

I left fresh cut roses pink and red coupled with wild flowers on a mahogany table.

The butcher paper was strewn about with green tissue paper.

My mother said, “Don’t worry it’s not safe here.”

 

“Leave it be.”

There will be more.

She was not worried as we drove off together.

 

Translation:

Do not look back to try and capture beauty, no matter how you are attracted to its nature.

Your safety is far more precious than the cut flowers that someone else will tend to and appreciate.

Leave beauty behind if you must, you find it anew.

 

Flowers will grow and be cut later after summer solstice.

Do not fear.

Beauty and love is in your heart; you take it with you everywhere you go.

 

Flashback to the diner,

Waiting for my brother,

Feeling proud.

 

I took off  my earrings.

Rested them on the counter, on a paper napkin.

One broke open and the other broke in two.

 

Both were in a crystal casing with silver knobs.

One was cracked

Revealing a resin filled with the sweetest tasting logwood honey.

 

Love still lives…

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