dust storms rage through
the city
wrapping everything
with a thin layer of light brown

an innocuous message
flapping
in the storm
suddenly reminds me
of you
and me
wrapped around
each other

in another world
in another time

when snow swirled
through the air and your hair
to land
on the edge of your smile

the sand swirls too
like a dancer
erasing definition
enabling memory

how time runs
between us

just the other day
lying in your arms
I wished for forever

and today
I look at hope
as a dirty word

it is so hard
to want, yeah, to hope
and then
see what is inside
shrivel and
die
like the look in your eyes
I imagined
when you hung up
so abruptly

paper tigers
run around
in the dim light
like we did
on the staircase
in the wild
beneath the broken
burning dome of blue

the world watched
our game
held its breath
and on that special day
exhaled

dust storms
blow sand grains
into my eyes
bringing tears
to parched lands