Pastel colors
hues of blue and pink born from morning light
are too frail, too delicate
for his bedroom walls

We lay in embrace
and kiss like slugs
clumsily, without direction
pulling at each others’ lips

We breathe into each others mouths
and speak silent words like dead fish
putrid, slippery lines
from gaping mouths and bulging eyes
I know that this is nothing, yet

Months later
I tilt my head backwards
and look out the window
above his bed
Orange trees burn flagrant
against a sky
that looks like the sea
In this light
his irises are scales
of a twinkling, majestic fish
and my eyes squint and burn
like the brightness of autumn leaves

I, in the sky
He, in the sea
This room dazzles us with color