Static allowed no pauses
to slip his supplications
into their conversations.
Filled with honey, his mouth,
spoke too slowly, too low,
to be heard over the swarm
of bees infesting her ears.
The tea cup had no depth
beyond the damp leaves
he fingered metaphorically.
It was too late to go back,
to be what he was not,
to grow his silent desires
from the salted earth.
(May 28, 2018)