You didn’t come,

although you

 

promised:

 

your name,

tart on

 

tip of tongue.

 

It’s been years,

seems like centuries

 

over & over

Groundhog Day.

 

That yearning

has dissipated

 

it returns in

random

 

conversation

 

the nub of

stranger’s chatter.

 

I’m melting ice

in the numb glitter

 

of this, diamond isle

 

my mantra stuck

like sugar honey.

 

We are obsolete;

a shady land

 

of diminished hope.

 

Love, like a

bird of paradise

 

has flown,

leaving paralysis.

 

You never came

& all the longing

 

sits upon my heart:

 

the dark shroud

of eternity,

 

only a breath away:

to you I say

 

you broke our

sacred promise.