BY THE SEA ✓

XL

여름
aestas
summer

waking up
with Taehyung
was a sight
Seol thought
she would have
for the rest
of her life.

although
she was aware
of the temperance
of life,
she never thought
to take in
every form
of the beauty
that used to
be hers.

now she looks back,
with regret
and struggles
to remember
the blurry images
of sleepy Taehyung
waking up
beside her.

her leaving him
for prior classes,
his jumbled hair
against the ivory sheets,
glasses he'd scurry to
put on his face,
grabby hands at her,
to pull her back
into his arms.
gradual, smooth kisses
along her collarbone,
gentle whispers,
abyss moans
of good mornings
and a smile
that started her day
with easiness.

Taehyung was
a gift she cherished
so much
in the present
that she forgot
the impossibility
of their future.