your departure

left an imprint

fragile slip of a dried flower

I keep revisiting

behind the glass of my memories

frozen in time

like your smile

blue like the submerged

ice on a glacier

goodbyes are always

deeper than they seem

layers of emotion

warped by expectation

frozen by fear and covered

by a sheen of desperation

I left and all my memories

were doused in the blue lighting

of our last hours together

a filter I would

never choose when

what we had was so warm

when what we had was

alive, vibrant, violet

like the sky above the mountains

before nightfall

like the sleeve of

your favorite hoodie

all my memories are blue, now.

turns out I learned to hate any shade of purple.