WITH LOTS OF SALT WATER AND IMAGINATION

We built a dream structure

out of sand and sentiment and called us

the right castle at the right time.

I helped dig balconies and towers

for the shining armor in you.

A place where your dragons could sleep

when you were tired of fighting them.

I carved an homage to your courage

in the form of a drawbridge

so your isolation periods

would always have a form of leverage.

Gave you my buckets and shovels,

the broken glass of a past

worth punching seagulls out of the way for.

We laughed unconditionally,

turned tossed candy wrappers into thrones,

kissed above sand crabs cussing at our nestling kneecaps,

ignored low tides and spirits.

Your face began sinking to the shells,

foundation predicated on disasters,

stung senseless as a jellyfish.

My brain was a bottle

floating away with a message inside.

I should have kept my hands to myself.