What Once Was

Free Verse by Mitchell Warnken

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Underneath the honeysuckle branches,
Pretend with me.
For a flicker of light,
Cast aside where we differ, you and I,
With the haphazardly piled clothes in the corner.
Dance alongside,
Arm to arm,
Skin to skin,
Beneath the silver light of
What once was,
What is fated never to be,
Again.
Let amnesia, purple and thick,
Wash away our past,
For but a second,
And come back to me,
In the frothy heat of the moment.
Forego language,
And all its complications,
Forget patience and etiquette,
Come to me,
If but for only a glimmer.

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Mitchell Warnken is a MFA student and editorial assistant at Queens University. He has been published in "Sanskrit," "The Mighty," and "Written Tales," as well as numerous other online and in-print publications. When not writing, he can be found reading a Stephen King novel or hiking up a hill somewhere.