Melted

By Bhavishya

You are asleep in my arms, and this is how a dream lingers. Lingers, around the edges of my mind still soft with the night. Lingers, in the day that awaits so full of punishing heat. We bask in a cocoon and all that is a safe distance away.

To worlds in orbit time is melted.

I steal your corner of the old green blanket just to breathe in your warmth and your smell and that soft hmph right from your throat. My lashes flutter down on your half-moon eyes. I hold on tighter, don’t let go. You are asleep, in my arms, but I swear I heard the answer in an echo.

To worlds in orbit time is melted.

I hadn’t given much thought to my name at all until you said it. Your cadence leaves it marked and pretty. I can hear the lilt in your breath catch. So does mine. You tell me how you almost walked into traffic chasing after a butterfly. I tell you about the stars I see in your eyes, and oh god, I’m drunk on your laugh again.

And again, and again, I make you laugh to hit that melted honey-high.

The sun is almost down but there’s a freckle on your nose my gaze keeps straying to. Birds form ranks right overhead. You’re watching me squint and blink. Fallen lash. You make a wish, silent, but your little glance at me is loud. So is mine. This horizon will always look the same. We keep getting closer but it will never change.

So we melt like the other colours bleeding right into it.

By Bhavishya