The ways we walk

We no longer walked side by side,

beachy footsteps tread their silence

in the time that time may  bide.

You saw what I wanted you to see

whilst I said all I was willing to say.

Your brow began to furrow as it plucked at feathers courage;

you threw your questions ignited at me,

etiquette lost with percolating desire

as you saw red tantalizing in mire.

A carapace was thrown unexpected on back,

I did not crumble but wilt;

I did not reveal but exchange.

My words to you offered nothing but memory,

counterpoints of past to travel to present.

Your eyes saw my shrug attached to my lungs as they tugged,

a breath of air that did smother

but death to whom not one delivered,

reiterating life in those words present,

changing sky to moon from half a crescent.

We began again to walk by side

as my words to you I chose not to hide.