Angelina
I.
Angelina was the first girl hugged
By the shiest boy in the grade above her.
Happenstance.
He didn't even love her
Because at the time
Love was on his mind
And it consumed him
How absent love was
In the teenage realm.
Yet he still imbued that hug with care.
Loneliness schooled him well,
Each night his spirit entered the gutter
In torrents, along with the rest of the city's mire.
Somewhere far from his drying levy,
The 'Rora Borealis played tag in a girl's backyard,
A promise
That they would one day meet and be orange-sweet.
One day.
II.
If our lives had been different
And less tragic
Maybe she and I would be together
And love each other unconditionally
And look back on our first teenage hug
And laugh,
Admitting that we both had feelings
Human feelings
And how childish getting giddy about a hug was.
Or not,
Because our hugs would still be supercharged
With the sensations absent from our old high schools
Where no one was truly your friend.
And now we are young adults
Cursing sordid paths riddled with black ice,
Guffawing at a few good jokes now and then,
Ignorant that future adulthood began
Long before my family's flame died,
And Angelina was born paralyzed.
|