I Saw Your Voice

Your face was heavily shadowed by a grievance of being anywhere but here, but you spoke so real the words were tangible
I saw your voice; your words hung in the air long enough for me to describe the details of their existence
Their shape and color, the feelings they drew from a bent over intent-on-pleasing soul
The way they mockingly clung to anything more solid than atmosphere just to have another go at my heart
I reached out to try to wipe them away but they danced avoidance and laughed at my failed attempts
Yeah, I saw your voice alright.
Saw the reflection of the words still resting on my glossy eyes hours after the sun had set;
Hours after I had been released from their presence
My memory couldn’t recall such a bitter taste left in my mouth save for the times I had put it there myself and those were forgivable, reasonable even.
With no other options in mind, I walked into the night leaving my self-respect in the house as if it were a loose-fitting sweatshirt, easy to remove yet freer to breathe without
My mind concocted several viable escape plans from the letters you had strung together so dynamically
With none of them seeming fit, I just sat.
I took no notice of the darkness of night or the chill in the air because it was a mere echo of what was resonating within
At that point I considered only my emotional state; unaware of the bridges that would later be built by the words you used; unaware of your equally grazed heart
Your heart; no, it hadn't even landed momentarily upon my tired mind
I saw your voice but it never quite occurred to me, you saw mine too.