Tenderness (For Strangers) Poem by veronica bugli

I.

You're gone, you said so—
composing tales out of my laughter:
castles made of sand,
the gate of fragment
after-images of secrecy
the back yard of the unspoken -
my last wish dead around the corner—
eyes seeking miracles
ashes for credulous.

II.

Many moon I have grown
outside the waiting room of predictions—
in the rearview mirror of your glances
spotlight of misfortune
your face as an surprise.

Tenderness for you was
a cigarette break inside a volcano.