The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Wish You Were Here
by Angela Yuriko Smith

What a night this is…

the moon seems within my reach…

I wish you were here.

.

This silent night, I send you a final text

as stars vanish, become insignificant, hidden

as full lover’s moon brightens night to day. 

The ships, the cars, the never sleeping city we both 

love takes pause. We hold our breath and awaken

from our hectic slumber. We have been dreaming

of the next meal-deal-feel, hungry for the hustle

always needing more, craving redeem filling that

can plug all our empty holes, leaking tears sinking 

our ships. Our lips confessing fears to no one

but eavesdropping ghosts traveling through 

our lives, living vicariously through our missed

connections, our silent ships passing in the night.

Lonely behemoths close enough to touch

but separated by politics, laws, rules, expectations

…heaven swallowed in bites of obligation

We think ghosts cry for what they have lost, but no…

 caught in the eternal now, ghosts waste no sorrow

for the past, but for us

Us: spinning out of control, spending our minutes 

like Rockefeller in a dime store. We toss our time

like beads in a parade, gifts to the wind 

to fair-weather friends. We leave our sloppy

seconds forgotten on dank pavement, 

like tombstones on a dead lawn 

grass all yellowed and mown 

… gone, wrong, last dawn, so long.

We hustled our time away, trading pearls

for pennies. Too busy, too bothered, too blind… 

So I send you a closing text in this final moment

Too little, too late… I know, it was just a first date

but in this terminal breath, blasted in brilliant moon

so bright it will burn away my future dreams.

I smile, hit send and remember… 

that kiss. Hello and goodbye

in a slip of the tongue.

.

What a night this is…

the moon seems within my reach…

I wish you were here.

Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

More from Angela Yuriko Smith:

Angela Yuriko Smith is an American poet, author and co-publisher of Space and Time magazine, a publication that has been printing speculative fiction, art and poetry since 1966. Together we build a poem as a community each month. Visit “Exquisite Corpse” at SpaceandTime.net to submit.

Catch up with Angela here!