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Creative Scholarship
DeSouza
the tears my eyes have so long ago forgotten
stay with me now, my memory,
of a face that can’t
won’t
be forgotten- your face.
I take my raw hands
raking my bald head
with jagged fingertips
covering my eyes, my mouth, my face
pretend
they are your hands, caressing my bruised cheek
your hands wrapped tight around my brittle body
be careful not to break me,
“just please don’t let them break me”
fragile words whispered into an even more fragile ear
Give me something
Let this, my heart, realize
What my mind knows cannot be so
If only for a moment,
please
Know that I love you.
Still.
Missing in Action
I saw your shadow rising with the dawn
Shrinking at noon
Fading soon at twilight,
Gone.
“Hey,” I say
“He’s not coming back”
I flicked the end of my dying cigarette,
The ashes swirled and the smoke curled as
I hurled those cold words: their didactic wings unfurled,
Borne upon the dusty winds;
My syllables stretched and twisted their grammatical arms
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