From the Silent Girl

Cascade

I was drowning.
People like waves, a sea of meaningless chatter
washing over me, battering me.
My voice was lost until he found it,
Until he plucked it from the waters
and gave it back to me.

A single star, a single smile
a single stutter.
A ray of sunshine through rivulets of rain
streaming down library windows
like our endless conversations.
Until time was cut short

Until the break without a goodbye.
So many conversations we never had.
So many questions
that I will never know the answers to.

When I awake from my dream
to see the bitter darkness of another
barren, voiceless morning,
I look up from the depths of the ocean,
from the depths of desolation,

And see that smile.
Intangible yet tangibly sweet
full of memories,
full of hope.