It's nice to hear your voice, and even nicer still to know your name...

I'd pretend that it's no bother, you'll pretend you're still the same.

Just to pass you on the sidewalk, where these imprints left their mark,

Just to hold you for an hour, just a whisper in the dark...

If I left you out to dry, and the waters took you in

Someone's sure to claim their prize, before you're lost again.

And the timing of it all, in the place I gave you up,

The walking slows to crawls, the crawlings just to drop.

Our patterns so much older, none wiser all the less

When the world falls around you, my heart bleeds through my chest.

I chalked you up in stories, you breathe into the cause

You're half-stained muddy lime-lights illuminate your flaws

In a feeling half-departed, in a moment in my skin

Your absences surround you, I'm afraid to take you in.

I chalked you up in stories, you choked me up instead

I'll leave you on the sidewalk,I'll leave you in my head.

-Amanda Jowsey