Saturday, February 15, 2025

Let me hold you a little while longer

 



Let me hold you a little while longer


I roll over in the middle of the night / to go pee for the third time / while our leader sleeps soundly through the night / I stumble reaching to turn the florescent light on / and worry about what kind of world / I’m bringing you into / while the most powerful man in the country / shines his fluorescent white teeth / in the name of exclusivity / The sun goes to bed early and comes up late / and my dreams are dark and / drag at my limbs to stay in bed / You kick me from the inside / and I know you are almost ready to face / the cruel world, the fluorescent, angry lights / I dream for you in the dark / gentle sunlight on your face / young grass clutched eagerly in your firm fists / toes dipped in cool clear water / and shrieks of delight from your sun dappled cheeks / One more night I whisper / and try not to cry and instead / try to think of every good thing that could ever be / and not about how I’ll never again / have you here so close to me / the illusion of safety / Let me hold you a little while longer / Let me dream for you and build / with my own two hands against the rising tide / a world more kind than home.


— olivia gwyn 


Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Mercy

  

Mercy

The sun hits me in my eyes 
on the way home from my appointment
you beside me driving home 

The sun hurts my eyes and my head 
and I snap at you and worry about
what I don’t know

You offer me pineapple out of your open hand
and I could cry with my eyes closed
against the merciless light of the sun

How easily I forget 
what I do know

How quickly I am offered 
another chance to remember 

You 
you 
you

— olivia gwyn