When You Showed Me the Stars

Gemma White

The moon hung from the sky like a dead thing

You tried to show me the stars again

But this time I was not listening

Your face already turned towards somewhere else

The horizon surrendering one bare tree

Scared white in the moonlight

So we sat in the silent blue

“It’s okay, I half-expected this”

And I wasn’t lying but it still came as a shock

The next morning when you were gone

The tired wire-screen door closed so violently behind me

Red dirt blew in and suddenly it hurt.