Listen To the Warm

"It happens just because we need to want, and to be wanted too...when love is here or gone to lie down in the darkness and... listen to the warm.” -Rod McKuen The earliest days with you were way too cool. We clashed like cymbals crashing bitter bronze, cold so close it stung head-on. I froze for days in the after-clash that rung and numbed my inner ear. It would take some time before I could feel your real vibe. The hottest snare my ears will not recall; it burns too much to know the sweep of brush is gone. But at night, after the marching band’s pounded out every bit of sound and stretched like hide my auditory nerve, you pity the nothing that’s left from my highs and my lows. Like smoke from a gun, your voice reaches me. In the bass of my drum, with steady beat, you sing to me, "Listen to the Warm." You tap so soft and sweet. How beautiful that you can still touch me with the words you used to speak. April 26, 2016 "Listen to the Warm" Contest