after hours
by lucy feneyrol
web developer by day, poet by night.
these are my inner thoughts, scattered like seeds in a garden.
also, an excuse to share my favourite works of art.
.1 Afterglow
The prideful scars on my scraped knees
have almost faded into my skin,
visible only today
under direct sunlight.
And the memories of those days
slip softly from my mind,
like day surrendering to dusk,
the warmth melting into the evening air.
But in the cool hush of night,
I hear your laugh ripple through the dark,
and as I turn to look into your eyes
The moon, carrying sunlight in its glow,
catches in their curves,
a twinkle shining on my face.
Blinded by its light,
I see myself there again.
In this moment, I realise
you were my favourite part of fun times.
.2 Erosion
It seems I can feel the wind on my face
as the world spins around
Like facing the ocean on a warm summer's day,
The length of my hair trailing behind me,
The salt in the air
drying and fading its colours.
I want to shave it down to the root
So maybe I can start over, reborn
But my skin will still feel the ocean breeze,
Water ripples forming along my surface.
The only way to stop time
Is to stop life itself.
And what a beautiful testament to living
Is the erosion of the body.
Like a river cutting through land,
Polished glass shining in the sun,
Grains of sand all alike yet so different,
Together forming
the anatomy of the beach.
.3 Letters
I send my love letters in the wind
The only carrier I still trust
To deliver my words
When I need them heard the most.
Maybe you sent a note in return
Lost in the ocean that separates us
Or maybe mine never even reach your hands
Burned in the fire that rose between us.
Still, I have to believe
deep in my heart
That the cherry trees feel my whispers
in the soft spring breeze,
Their blossoms blooming
with the warmth of my love,
Even if they only reach you
when the snow begins to fall.
.4 Recycled Death
I heard we drive on dinosaurs turned to rust,
and that our bodies
are composed of stardust
Well, the pages on which I write tonight
were once a hundred-year-old tree
And the soft memories of you became
the first words I wrote in them,
as poetry
Life is nothing but recycled death,
Fueled by the energy
of every last breath.
.5 Blue Heart
So I send you a blue heart emoji,
Because red already beats
in someone else's chest.
Blue for friendship,
blue for distance,
blue for all the words
I swallow before they escape.
But you should know
that red is the colour I see
when I think of you
.6 Chronic Daydreamer
Headphones on, I slip away
into a thousand different worlds
Each melody a doorway,
to a million lives I'd rather live.
"Hi, can I ask you..."
I take them off for just a second,
and reality comes crashing back,
thoughts rushing in like water
filling my lungs.
So I quickly press them back to my ears,
let the sound drown out the noise,
and drift away again,
into the warm embrace of my musical bed.