chocolate kisses

I had a dream of you, falling asleep under
warm covers. Tired and worn from
months of travel.

I watched you sleep with hand
over heart, until two hours before your flight.
You woke in panic, looking for
your spectacles, which I had placed on the shelf
for fear of you rolling over them
in the night.

A quick eye to your luggage, prepared the night before,
and your suit, draped over the computer chair
ready for a dash out the apartment.

and I, liking to leave impressions, snuck in to look at your things
when you left the room
to brush your teeth,
and dropped three chocolate kisses in your
left suit pocket.

I walked out the room, watched you from a distance
hoping you’d stay back to say goodbye. But being
in a rush to catch your plane, I understood.

Perhaps my hopes were vain,
that you would find three kisses in your pocket and remember me.
rather than closing your eyes in anger
when unsuspecting, your hand touches a mound of melting chocolate
during one of your
more important meetings.

it is night and we are

in our vehicle, a beat up white car, crossing
the border.
new territory
beyond rusted gates, marking
our journey to quiet freedom, our fingers
intertwined with potential
for a future without
the sweat of fear,
lacking
the accident of pointed words
and low voiced visitors in the night.

we are driving towards
perhaps a frightening unknown,
a white space
to park our car and legs, to make a home
amongst the brittle, but bandaged
smiles of a people
once plagued by things immeasurable.