Fictional Facade

Fictional Facade by Rebecca Rothstein-Epp

I needed you.

When my sorrows dissipated in ink spills

And eloquent phrases,

Your words were sewn with healing verses

And a sympathy untouched by pretense.

Is there still room for me in your narrative?

With you I sought company in empty spaces.

We’d sit by flickering firelight,

Encapsulated by each other's fantasy.

Your hair curled like calligraphy

As you bent over the page.

Shadows could not touch our fictional facade,

For you were my steady flame.

We transcended past the reaches of reality;

I let you whisper quiet into the chaos of my mind,

Each vowel familiar with your lilting rhymes.

As I grew, you were left with my youth,

Buried in scriptures and replaced by solitude.

In time a thousand hearts will see

The words you never wrote for me.

Sugarcane