these rusted-red train tracks
long thrown away by mankind
run from south to north,
stretched out across the dried river.

the only line
i have to you.

the rails cut deeply into my flesh;
unforgivably.
they know what i've done.
a sin so unjustifiable—
and perch, i dare
at eighteen feet away.

the jagged scent
of those spine-tingling pine trees
we climbed with reckless abandon
intoxicate me.

the same carelessness
and nostalgia
is what brought me here,
again.
those esteemed trees
nor this eradicated rail
will ever understand.

i've visited before,
for short, fleeting moments;
i fled.

just as i did
on that overcast summers day
that you slid.

laughing, we were
smiling, we were
happy, we were.

in love, we were.

but stood, you did.
and walked across the train tracks
all the way to land
where the pine trees towered
before you turned back.
secured in your hand
was a single daisy.
the same one i'd seen
and pointed out
mere hours before.

you'd remembered.

my cheeks warmed.
smiling, you were.
your face glowing
and luminous.

thirty-seven feet away, you were.
your smile contagious,
i soon was a mere reflection.

twenty-two feet away, you were.
our eyes met.
something in those eyes made me stand too.
taller, you always were.

eighteen feet away you were.
our wide sky was split in two
in three
in four
a white-hot, spiking flash;
an earsplitting clap.
blind, i was.

you were gone before you hit the ground.
i still haven't left.

together, we're not.

-

a/n—who knows.
music—'Slow Fade' by Casting Crowns.