Exceptionally Small Moments Poem by francesca zumbo

Floating on some kind of majestic cloud
I was then, and I didn’t realize the air that surrounded me
It seems like a lifetime ago that you came knocking at my door
And years more that I took you in from the cold
I was ok to rest with you, and my how your eyes took to mine
And folded layers of good stories, like sand throughout my mind

We stretched ourselves as far as our bodies could bend
Across the thin plate that we were eating from
We dove in head first, and the vibrations came up from under us
Like a crescendo of waves out at sea
And the salt came pouring out of my eyes in front of me
Into you

I think you know what I mean
When I say that my memories have eaten through
And chewed up what’s left of you
And now I’m anchored like a small ship
And I’m just a faint dot on the ocean
Starving and trying to find my way home

I do recall the sound of your voice on the phone
When you told me of your troubles and how your voice
Sounded fragile like glass, and as low as the dial tone
Almost too easily broken, it was
Like when your eyes finally fled from cover
And all your exterior walls were matted down

And the reflection of you came shining from the inside out
And for a moment in time, as if it all happened in one instant
I saw the soul that had always been a figure of flesh in front of me
I recognized its presence, and I knew its language
And I discovered the place within you that was free
And it was here in your holy land that I took part

And I lost my self in the geography of your body
It was here that I declared myself a free woman
With moving hands and a beating heart
I’m wondering now, with what remains will I gather your smile
When all I have left is a simple dictionary of words in my mind
To make up for your absence

It helps the time go by
To be able to draw your face on this paper
And type your eyes on this screen
Because it lets me know that you’re still alive
Existing out there in the same space as me
And just that much is all I need

To know that you rise the same as I do,
And see the same big empty sky as I do
And feel the same white snow kissing your cheeks
And say goodnight to the same lonely moon
At least that much I know we share
In this big, beautiful world I’m still trying to put together
The significance of insignificance

And so I start with you tonight in an open space
Available for two but taking only one
No one here knows my name, except for the walls around me
Tomorrow I’ll wake up and look out my window,
And I will see the same air that you will