Post Marked Poem by Susan Lacovara

The letters returned
Some opened and resealed
Others damaged by the handling
Of fool's fingers
They arrive in broken bundles
Telling me and teaching me
That time had all been wasted
The words, once wonderful kindling,
Useful for the fire we built
Now lay dead in distant sentences
Similar to those spoken by strangers

We were only strangers once we stopped believing

The crisscross of stories, long shared
Thinking finally some one cared enough
To open themselves, bare all oddities
And scoop sweetness in their palm
Massage it into the tense shoulders
That carried far too much weight for one
Those beautiful breaths between hello and goodnight
Turned to swallowed hard syllables
Written in caveman hieroglyphic goodbyes
Pondered over by strangers

We were only strangers once we looked away

Before the break of hearts and happiness
Were the love notes left on pillows
Pulsing lifeblood through our veins, making us aware
That no one knew what we had discovered as ours
Ribbons wrapped the poetry penned, late at night
When all I needed was a whisper from your lips
As our ships sailed towards a consensual horizon
Before the untimely death of dreams, and the return
Of letters which should have landed in your lap
Post marked...'Undeliverable' by some stranger's hand

We were only strangers once you changed your smile