I remember them often;

Lingering on those back doorsteps

of the house I'll never go back to

But pass by all the time

Floating in the air like flies over compost bins,

Clinging to the place I last saw you stand

With curly hair pooled in a crown of white gold

Soft eyes behind a set of big glasses.

There was no talk of love on that day,

Just a simple hug in the summer heat

On the bricks freshly marred with another's blood

after childhood play gone wrong

There were no I-love-you's

No sweet exchange or monumental speech

Just a girl, and a man

Bound together through ping pong tournaments

and playing solitaire on hotel balconies

There were no I-love-you's

But you already knew I had.