The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Limerence is a Lilac in the Bitter Cold
by Amanda Worthington

Hairline fracture tempting another migraine

The blossom of your brain feels fragile

On the verge of breaking at every little thing

Fiberoptic nightmare

It blinks on and off and back on again

Tentative

Like power returning after a storm

But when there’s still bad weather in the area

Thunderheads threaten from their domain above

Their bellies lighting up with barely-contained rage

And you cannot think how it ever came to this

My hands are not yet steady enough

To repair your synaptic damage

I only hope my words have some sway over you

Can intention mend brokenness?

I sit close marveling and praying and

Mostly I just try to think of the right things to say

And fail.

I imagine my arms around you

Imagine kissing the tears away

Lending you my electricity

When your lights start to dim

Begin to think how we’d make a good system

Shut the thought down before it’s fully formed

Because this is limerence

Just some semblance of desire

Metaphorical and raw and disconnected

Generator love taken out in emergencies

And otherwise kept in the closet

Maybe someday

Until then I will bend my will solely to your recovery

And to mine.

At any rate I’m glad our wires crossed space and time

And found purchase in one another.

May peace find you soon

With its predictable rhythm