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18 miles

dear reader, just a little something i wrote at night while i was inspired (very randomly) by a tote bag from the Strand that says "18 miles of books". after all, it's always the most random things that give the best inspiration. it's pretty abstract, but i hope it makes some semblance of sense. hope you enjoy :)

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i want to tell you this—

18 miles stretch

between my heart and yours

(and yet they beat in tandem,

how curious)

we are romeo

and juliet

(except we're not—

i'm a girl

three-quarters of the way

between reality and death

and you're a ghost

who's watching over my

dead body)

staring at each other across

a balcony

we could tightrope across

you know

there is a laundry

line holding shirts

and blankets

but none are as

fresh as our love;

but who knows

maybe the line will

crumble in front of our eyes

like we are

slowly fading into the

dirt like we will into the

strands of history

we are two hands trying to

rebraid the hair of

time but she is as vast

as the love we

(cannot) will not conquer

and we are too small

to handle it all:

there we are, but specks

of dust

twenty thousand

across one strand

and time is swishing herself

away towards the horizon

carrying us past

one life

two lives

three—

please don't leave me

behind, lost in this

maze of twists and turns

18 miles of braids

like rapunzel

in her tower

and not a strand will

heal me from the time i

have lost here

help me unbraid this mess

and leave the aftermath

behind, on the floor

ascend with me

climb up to the

tender flesh of

her brain, to

skin that has seen

but starlight

and drunken but

innocence

take hands with me

and traverse the

canals of the mind

the arteries of the soul

tiptoe across the

edges of her fingernails

and the creases of

her lips

know that there are

18 miles that we can walk

together

on this hourglass

figure

know that our 18 miles

are almost up