A Taste Like Rain

For the times when I 

Was soft toward you

And spoke endlessly in 

Starlight tones, out of tune 

Guitar strings, baskets full 

of summer strawberries 

and hope for your childhood 

Dreams, I was honest--

I never lied once.

In fact, I never lied 

At all; no traces of red 

Ever stained my clothes

But just the raw love 

Of a person to a person--

A heart to a heart

Through the complex weaves

That spiders make

On our front porches--

Like wild onion shoots 

That sting our eyes

And blackberries bleeding

When I pick them

Without you now.

I can't think of the way 

Those great white blooms

From the Crape Myrtles 

Look in spring; not the 

Headstones in the graveyard

Because of how you 

Cursed an innocent thing.

An ever non-romantic love 

Laid to Absolution, to rest--

If only saying 'no' 

Didn't make you try harder

To convince a ghost 

That they're alive. 

Being your friend was

A misery I endured;

Struck by second chances

Whispers, misunderstandings

By vague guilt, a summer

Wind enraged

And finally 

By lightning.