perhaps it was a cosmic twist, perfectly timed, secret but
to the beholders,
one from the north and one from the south….
fates spun, and fates chosen (if you believe in that sort of
nonsense, which, of course, she does not) we travelled continents to find each
other. oceans and speeches and afternoon
naps, hazy eyes, bright minds, we are the same, just with different grins; so
we formed a pale plan, white teeth and spindle fingers, smoke and slight lisps,
both vague, we promised to meet, though we hardly knew each other, we knew we
had to meet.
dublin in the morning was sleepy and sunlit and just cold
enough that our breath told us which way the wind blew. our rented car, backwards, counterclockwise, took
us from the city and into the country…
baby-natives,
our waters and our wild, the floods and the mountains were
all before us, nothing was behind. we
drove for hours and the landscape rippled with us; we drove with the day and
the clouds caught us. on the accordion
cliffs next to an angry sea we wound up the slopes of moher, our voices
swallowed. under a stormy gloaming we understood
that the world was so wide and screamed in wonder (what chill! how wet!) and
grinned at our tiny, strong souls.
for two weeks we were lost, thieves of sunlight, maps and
mud, knots in our laces and in our hair; styrofoam and fights and clothes washed
in the showers with us. and the air
(what lightness) it spoke of youth and kissed our milk skins as we ran from the
roadside, children, this was our playground: smooth stones and moonless beaches,
boat skeletons and whispered grass paths…churches forgotten, the bones of castles
past, kingdoms,
we collected our memories in mollusk shells, the tides
murmured, rivers swelled, we were the lost girls.
and perhaps we remain lost, in this foreign city we call
home… i hope so. our secrets, what we
know of each other, the pieces we have left behind: hats, plants unsuitably,
though purposefully placed on doorsteps, thousands of footsteps, trespassed,
our naked truths, plans and hungers, fears and falls … when i would cry and you
would laugh and tell me to shut up and i knew that you were right there beside
me, in our small infinite, safe, some quiet, we can stay lost, just for a
second…
this is what our grin is, our smile: what we know to exist,
though it might not have been; fortuity, serendipitous meeting,
my astral sister,
untamed grace,
i am so lucky, i love you.
