Behind him in the mirror

A study in charcoal and shadow, her eyes huge and wide and watching

Seeking, holding, waiting

Wrapping her arms around his waist in a light and possessive half whispered question

He looks up and smiles.

A study of charcoal and light, porcelain and smudged glass.

Shattering refractions, twisting, burning threats of decay

A shadow behind the angles and unshaven face of too young too fast too careless

He is a time bomb ticking in a closet unseen unheard unfelt,

the sinking pit in the stomach and the ache in the chest;

steady throb, steady beat, steady tick tick tick towards apocalypse.

A shadow done in charcoals and greys and tints of bluish-black little girl gone too far

Eyes eyes eyes, taking in, devouring and clinging;

Craving affirmation that her body doesn’t lie

And he is too young too fast too careless, quickening in her pulse and in her womb

Eyes meld and meet and pass in wordless touch and dance;

He leads, she follows, he is hers and hers alone, she is utterly dependent

Denial twists the heart and she wraps her arms around her oak tree

Thin waisted iron and earth radiating BOY in waifish rail-thin cat-grace

He stirs and the mirror lights up

A study in charcoal and light; she catches the smile he gives her

A delicate gift – a snowdrop in april, fresh and new and promising

Grey is lifted

The mirror is tilted

Curtains fall.

A boy and a girl in a room at sunset

A boy and a girl too young to be alone in a room full of light

The mirror catches it and throws it back

Heavy shadow pierced and darkened and pierced between

She is hesitant, and ashamed

He is silent, moody, unaware

They will never fall apart;

They will never be happy

They will never be satisfied

And they will not last

Acting out a quiet drama that will fade when the dark of youth is lifted

And the roses wrinkle like their skin

Leaving them with a child and a contract

Binding them by law and love and the question of which is stronger

The boy sees this, faintly

But girls are blind.