Bright red

Irises absorb the bloody light

A black hole of colour

Amongst cloudy September

A splotch of feeling,

Vulnerability bundled and tucked

Beneath small trembling arms

Clutching onto dying flowers

As if they are all the warmth

All the warmth in the world

Somebody saw me

Somebody loved me

Can you believe it?

But too soon

Because it’s sooner that forever

Petals dull

And the glow dissipates

Into the rest of time and air

Like a drop of blood in water

Like a sizzle of smoke in the air

After the extinction of a flame

Petals fall and

The memory of the bouquet

The moment you were loved

Spreads thin in existence

And disappears into everything else

But that red red red love

Is a stain that won’t come out