"Getting Better" [2023]

by FukinSpookie Fri Jul 21, 2023 10:01 am

"Getting Better"

She held my hand tight in her own and
she gave it a squeeze.
It didn't hurt, no, she's not
that sort and I don't want to
give you the wrong idea.
I'll say it was for comfort
she might tell you it was more
assurance, than anything else.
Whose comfort? Whose assurance?
I don't right now.
It's not a digression that really matters,
is it?
Our breath gathered our breath mixed,
any colder and you might see the shimmery
hints of frost.
But it was early Autumn and
not quite so cold yet.
Regardless, our breath hung still
in the dead still of a late October chill.
The autumn leaves crunched underfoot
wherever we walked or went.
Lasting impressions of impermanence,
you could say.
"Isn't it just so beautiful? Isn't it just so..."
She said as sudden as the cold weather came
and trailed off.
I'm not the sentimental type.
Not outwardly anyway, so I said nothing.
I gave her a look then.
Was it a pearly tear running down her cheek,
or a snowflake in melting?
I squeezed her hand.
Maybe for comfort, maybe for assurance.
Whose comfort?
Whose assurance?
I don't really know.