Ankle deep in snow

Under a star-dotted sky,

On a whispered winter breath

That spilled across my ear

And wrapped down around my neck,

You said,

“I love you.”

You said,

“Forever”

So casually

That it impressed me.

I admired the way you thought of

Eternity

As tangible,

As something attainable.

I reciprocated your pseudo-promises,

And I held your hands close

In a poor attempt to warm them.

I said,

“We complain of the cold now,

But when summer comes,

We’ll complain of the warm,”

And you laughed along.

You said,

“What about spring?”

And I said,

“We’ll go see the flowers.”

Spring came with

A rainbow of bright blossoms

Blooming under a moderate sky.

I said,

“The flowers are beautiful,”

And you were indifferent.

You said,

“The pollen bothers my allergies,”

And I commiserated,

Silently holding within

My admiration of the colorful petals.

With a heavy heart,

I said,

“They will be gone by summer,”

And you said,

“I don’t mind.

All things live and die,

That’s just the cycle of life.”

We still held close

The words we hastily hushed

On a cold, snowy night,

Though now we repeated them

Not because we believed them,

But because we believed

If we spoke them over and over

Truth would manifest inside them

And keep them alive.

Summer arrived

Carrying a heatwave so intense

The air became thick

And walking through it

Became a chore.

The flowers

Withered and died,

But I insisted we water them,

Thinking their beauty could last

As long as we nurtured,

Believing forever

Was just beyond my fingertips.

We looked at

The dead flowerbed,

And subtle waves of anguish

Rippled through my heart.

You said,

“Nothing lasts forever,”

And I felt the salty taste

Of a tear slip through

The corner of my mouth.

I said,

“It’s too warm now,

But they will bloom again.”

You said,

“They won’t be

The same,

New flowers will

Replace them,”

And you walked away.

I looked down at my hands,

Covered in soil and guilt.

In the hellish heat,

I was ice cold,

And all I could imagine

Was how warm I felt

Wrapped in your arms

On a snowy winter day.