Dreams dwindle the afternoons: the city softly blurring into the periphery of vision; the stereo churning out songs punctuated by (our) laughter, rhythmic reminders of lyrics lost in the mirth; the shades shielding against the glare. We slow to a crawl, making memories, freezing moments, listening to shutters whir away.
We ripple away from lazy power lines, from bright commercial facades, from looming billboards(THIS AD SPACE IS AVAILABLE). Road signs tell us we move closer to our destination( Mandaue City ↓ ,) wherever that is. Our conversations turn to photographs: life metamorphoses to the surreal when viewed through a lens, when boxed in a photograph; our conversations turn to art: we create for the joy of creation; our conversations turn to poetry: abandon all hope, ye who enters. We go in circles, their circumferences degenerating, our conversations spiraling to love: you don't know it yet, but you're renting a one-bedroom flat in my mind.
One drifts off to sleep, briefly worn, the diffused light resting on the planes of his face, delving the recesses of laugh lines, peeping from the shade of his jawline, from behind his cheekbones; the other's hand ensconcing his, welcoming the soul beneath the callouses.
The sky, ablaze with shades of red beyond count, and the horizon, caked with diamond dust, greet waking eyes, their edges crinkled, roused from slumber by an insistent breath towards his ears, stray locks quivering in delight. We sit on the hood, living memories: listening to the waves hiss in surrender(or was it bliss we heard?) as their brief lives end, beyond all control, upon rocks, only to be raised again; capturing moments: the spray and the foam always frozen in flight.
We go on, lost in anecdotes: this one time, at ...; lost in food: raw garlic, pasta, onions, black angus steaks, cheese, wine; lost in our thoughts: each idly caressing the other's hand, animatedly whining about school(our teachers and all the cliques) *click*, offhandedly cracking one-liners *whir*, cracking smiles *click*, curling smirks *whir*, rolling eyes *click*.
The night is afire with stars, the Milky Way filling us with child-like wonder(what if The Supreme Being's farted us to existence? That we are precipitates of some trans existential noxious gas?), imposing the enormity of the Universe, shoving our infinitesimal lives down our throats, brandishing it at our faces as we lie upon our mat beneath the limitless expanse of the cosmos, the sea-breeze ruffling our hair, its rich tang filling us both, taking our senses to new heights. You curl aside to face me, to take my hand, our skins silver in the moonlight: living a memory, freezing a moment, listening to words unsaid.
One drifts off to sleep, briefly worn, the diffused light resting on the planes of his face, delving the recesses of laugh lines, peeping from the shade of his jawline, from behind his cheekbones; the other's hand ensconcing his, welcoming the soul beneath the callouses.
The sky, ablaze with shades of red beyond count, and the horizon, caked with diamond dust, greet waking eyes, their edges crinkled, roused from slumber by an insistent breath towards his ears, stray locks quivering in delight. We sit on the hood, living memories: listening to the waves hiss in surrender(or was it bliss we heard?) as their brief lives end, beyond all control, upon rocks, only to be raised again; capturing moments: the spray and the foam always frozen in flight.
We go on, lost in anecdotes: this one time, at ...; lost in food: raw garlic, pasta, onions, black angus steaks, cheese, wine; lost in our thoughts: each idly caressing the other's hand, animatedly whining about school(our teachers and all the cliques) *click*, offhandedly cracking one-liners *whir*, cracking smiles *click*, curling smirks *whir*, rolling eyes *click*.
The night is afire with stars, the Milky Way filling us with child-like wonder(what if The Supreme Being's farted us to existence? That we are precipitates of some trans existential noxious gas?), imposing the enormity of the Universe, shoving our infinitesimal lives down our throats, brandishing it at our faces as we lie upon our mat beneath the limitless expanse of the cosmos, the sea-breeze ruffling our hair, its rich tang filling us both, taking our senses to new heights. You curl aside to face me, to take my hand, our skins silver in the moonlight: living a memory, freezing a moment, listening to words unsaid.
Asleep
Emily Browning
