Breathing to no one

A kiss on the cheek after
a night of coldness.
She still feels that chill
and it shudders through her limbs
and films her eyes over with sea.
Escape in the waves.

Not a soul about,
people with ghost-faces
so stand-offish in their silence
passing her by
and her beat-up instrument.

A crab she'll be.
Hermit-like and unsharing.
Words don't carry meaning
any more.

She touches her cheek where it was kissed
and feels the burn of passion there.