(un)ribboned

four stripes of light

were all that separated you

and i

godspeed, godspeed-

let’s turn this round world

into a flat line

i was carved from Narra and nacre,

carrying the blessures of my foremothers and

my own.

my tears glisten in ways

not unlike stardust,

this blinding iridescence

seeping through fractures cloven by

my demons and my

trauma

love (and life) as i learned it

was to give and never take

like a supernova at the brink

of death,

radiating her twilight glow in one

long, last breath

to return to the cosmos

(...but then)

my heart, melted by your gold chain

and a tiger’s eye

i feel the curved indents of your fingertips

settle into the cracks of my soul

to ease the pain-

the balm of gilead i didn’t think i needed

nor deserved.

love (and life) as we know it

is now four decades of red thread and

filament,

that we unribboned to lace

your hand with

mine

fragile, hopeful, irreplaceable

when two worlds collide-

the celestial contact of the times

and so, one day

four stripes of light

will no longer separate you

and i

godspeed, godspeed-

let’s turn this round world

into a flat line.

-written by Larvisty

Carolyn Yuziuk photographed by Braden Porr.