of tao and te

they wandered along

winding corridors. hidden passageways

losing their footing

stumbling...

until they stopped

waited

listened

let their eyes see beyond the darkness in front of them.

and then they knew

that even though they were lost,

they were somewhere.

and in that, they found they were free.

signal failure

she tried. again. to find the words

but they were lost.

like she was back then

like they were to each other now

and the clocks ticked on

and the time passed by

until suddenly it was too late.

she knew the words wouldn't fit

even if she happened to find them

she knew he couldn't hear her from a world and a lifetime away

the regret

And now you're hiding.

eyes screwed up tight, tighter

fingers jammed into your ears

leave me alone!

But the memories won't be blinded, and you can't deafen the screaming when it's coming from within. And you know you made these choices, you chose the path that lead you here.

And you can't run away from yourself.

how flowers bloom from pavement cracks

these words may break in

places. they may

jar and

stop.

they may not always make much sense.

but they always mean something

they mean a depth. an honesty. a resilience. a

hope.

they mean that even when there is

nothing

left

there is still the penchant to

pick up this pen and

say so.

when the storyline began

sometimes, my memory forgets

the lines between the years blur

and there we were (are?)

a hazy snap-shot

hand-in-hand

my pigtails and your mary-janes

leonardo and april

sunburnt on the beach while the fire keeps you warm

and the same song playing in both our backgrounds

my memory forgets

that ours is a new chapter, only recently begun

and your name should not appear on those early pages

and yet, there it is

in a different book

in a different place

in a different time

but somehow

it's the same story.