I became Clementine on a good day. Wearing a heavy jacket, I ran away to take a walk on the wintered beach. I stepped towards the pier, the cold wind moved me along the shore. The last place I remember getting better. In the middle of a long spiral, I saw you there. In between the water and the sky with your back facing the sand. I walked right behind you like we had always been strangers. Your eyes stayed fixed on the horizon, you never looked around. Were you waiting for a signal? Some sort of blessing from the clouds to tell you what to do? Maybe you were unsure if it was the right time to leave. I think I’m still unsure, and I was sorry to hear you’ve been just as sad as me. I wish we hadn’t been forced to become so blue. I’ve been unable to think clearly, my thoughts are flooded with everything that has and will not happen. All of the words I’ve written read like a eulogy for a parallel life, one that will never be lived outside of my own mind. It’s a lot lately, everything all of a sudden. I think about you. Every moon, flame, tide, and sea- of course, it’s you.
Brooke Cagle