8/12/10

That Night…
By Rachel V. Olivier


That night your smile carried more secrets.



Laughing at a drunk joke, I felt your hand

caressing my hair as if I might break.

Such careful, precious desire.



Sighing in the safety of your arms,

I felt my heart in my mouth

and the whisperings of fear.



Instinctively I knew

I would say things wrong;

do things wrong;

just be wrong.



I always was.



That morning your eyes shuttered.

“You’re still here.”

Surprise laced with disappointment, iced with regret.



“Never sleep with a friend,” you joked.

Habit kicked in. I laughed with my tormentor;

the clang of my closing heart deafening to my ears.



That night I lay down with a friend.

That morning I got up alone.


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I am a proofreader, copy editor and writer. My poetry and fiction have appeared on Daily Love, Everyday Weirdness, Bewildering Stories and Mindflights as well as in Electric Velocipede, Aoife’s Kiss and elsewhere.