Halcyon

we didn't stop

we have a bad habit,
of wrapping happiness around barbed wire edges,
rubbing the bruise, we kept pressing,
sweeping our consciences under motel carpets.
oh, look at us, pulse like thunder,
under fingertip lightning,
summer rain on skin,
running the red lights just to feel the colour,
still we didn't stop.

laughter ricocheting like fireworks in
forbidden, secret, outlawed motel rooms,
the moonlight drips down our bare shoulders,
like mercy giving us mercy,
our heartbeats racing yellow lights,
that begged us slow,
clinging onto one another,
brisk, breathless, breakneck,
champagne spilling like time we could
never keep, chasin' lightning,
hoping it might stay,
still we didn't stop.

they wanted it uncluttered,
but we wanted that chaos,
touch reckless as wings
too close to sun,
heat rising like july asphalt,
desire quick as a match strike,
bright as a wildfire,
tangled breaths like engines
reddest, ruddy linings,
town car speeding past reason,
ignoring treason,
sin tasting like sweet, spring rain,
our rings shining like warnings,
still we didn't stop.

but the dawn always hits hard,
doesn't it? pouring in guilt
like a reckless wave, with no shore to offer,
and it never pulled back,
room smelling of regret, not perfume anymore,
we learned the cost by paying in shame,
our thrill turning to evidence in the light,
disgrace wore our skin better than we did,
guilt heavy as a name we whisper wrong,
we promised nothing, but betrayed everything,
calling ourselves holy in the dark,
feeding desire with borrowed breath,
it never is a mistake, always a choice,
and now we know why we should've stopped.