Traditions of May

I
Heart stops.
In a moment
the world stops.

Restarts.

Spins out of control.
Metal rises up.
Memories try to overtake
tenuous hold on reality.

Run.

No place to go.
No red lights to
speed through.
One more promise
you can't keep.
One more you
didn't voice.

She'll still know
though.

So you hope.

Answers hard to find.
Hard to hear.

Wanted to follow
tradition.
Flowers fell from
hands to floor sometime
someplace
back there.
Trampled now.

So's your hope.
Your heart.

Words never said
echo around
your mind.
Worry creeps
deeper in.
There's no glass
to break.
Sirens you hear
are real,
distant.

They can't help.
Maybe no one can.

(This is your curse.)

Slump to floor.
Fight back tears.
You understand things
you never wanted to
know
now.

Footsteps sound.
Voice saids your name.

Not a friend.

Not a foe.

Inpendable expression.
Can't kill the messenger.
Wait for answer.
Alone.
It comes.
The world fades to black.

II
Inhale-
Remember to breathe-
Come through.
Sun rises.
Light comes in.
A tradition
broken.
A tradition
shifted.
A tradition
kept.
Try again.
Believe again.

Love,
for the first time.