Ariadne's Thread

Under a Deep Blue Sky

Through avarice eyes, I see your face

face, soft and white

almost ethereal, but perhaps not yet

I try to replace these thoughts with something else

someone else

but your image burns in my mind

haunting

maybe there is a time to kill

a killing time to be met

I cannot imagine your past (nor can you imagine mine)

the past fires you have burned

quelled with your frosty glare

your past, past

so distant

velvet and satin sheets run under your body: I close my eyes and see you sleeping on a bed of thorns, waking on a bed of roses, only to find your skin has been pricked by the bitterness of memory

where do I stand in all of this?

bliss

broken

dissolve

maybe you can resolve to be with me

but sweet kisses relieve the pain, flowers and apologies run rampant like salmon swimming upstream

and you take him back, only to fall again

tumbling to the ground

leaving me suspended in time, awaiting your reply

our lives, mysteries all get twisted, until we embrace

let go

delve into each other's souls

after midnight, some night, when he has left you false promises

distances that never can be met

we should, we would, if only we could

the touch, skin on skin

the dream we all have

but after we wake, after we parted ways, would we feel the flame our hearts stopped racing, words run on empty

candy coated tongues taste rancid and demure

believing in the rainbow, without seeing the rain

everything is....slow motion like paint drying

I watch you walking, I don't think you even know my name

this paint dries, slowly

slowly

I can see the moistness of the first brush strokes disappear

turn brittle

fade away

all the lines vanish

slowly, slowly

a vacancy sign goes up as the memory of you slides into another

everything slides away

now as I listen to this song, I am reminded of you

your image, your breath, your sweet voice I never heard

never heard call my name

you walked around this campus like a shadow, never quite emerging but always making yourself known

under this blanket of darkness

shadows creeping on the wall

clouds being to emerge

and the storm keeps pounding your image into my heart

shadows never cease, even under a deep blue sky

so I am haunted, haunted by the fact I could never say anything, do anything, I just stood and watched you pass, my voice too weak, my courage gone in a roar

under my breath I said your name

but out loud, the wind carried my thoughts away

silenced by my own insecurity, my own mind traveling back and forth between valor and cowardice

roads never ending, thoughts rambling

I didn't want this dream to end as you passed me by

Submitted by: Peter W. Caton

Campus Box 100