Author S. K. Nicholas

Teeth as sacred scrolls and eyes that flutter on the sidewalk as a thousand cars drive to a thousand destinations always knowing what they’ll see next. So many colours that melt into my hands; so many memories of kisses that exist in old jam jars and between the pages of favourite books. Those yellows and oranges in the strands of her hair, and the fine lines around her mouth as she radiates like a string of daisies around the neck of a beaming child. There are so many horrors in this world, and yet even though she feels each one so acutely, she still finds it within herself to see the beauty the rest of them overlook. A piano that sinks into wet sand is an island we shall forever remember even when we won’t be able to recall our own names. The bench that faces a brick wall, and all those streets we walk but have never taken the time to see where they could’ve taken us next. Blurred images in the reflections of a shopfront. Music that drifts to us from far out at sea. These emotions we surrender to, they exist only in our minds, and once we learn not to succumb to them, we will become one with everything. Paradise in the time it takes to wipe away a tear. So shallow is her breathing when to breathe means nothing at all. Those earrings she wears, how they shine and glisten like fresh snow. How they gaze at me as I pretend not to be looking, but with each stolen glance, her presence grows like a mountain, so immovable and permanent. And with each day I struggle, I know there is a day waiting for me when things will be better. If there is meaning, and if there is intent, then what follows is all that was ever meant to be. Swans around our feet, we feed them bread as the sun retreats behind clouds of fire. How they seem the same as they did all those years ago; how this heart still beats despite all that has followed.