Can you smell the rain? You ask;
I shrug, listless eyes skimming
The cold, glassy sheen of the lake.
The words flutter by your lips
And light softly upon my conscience
Like birdsong to my frozen ears.

Your long, ivory fingers
Raise thin trails of goosebumps
On the back of my hand;
A shiver dances down my spine
And I gasp.
What’s the matter? You ask.

My startled gaze darts from freckle to freckle
Playing join-the-dots upon your pretty nose;
Watching November’s breath
Stir your silken chestnut hair.
I issue a sigh; your eyelashes beat together.
You are such a strange girl, you murmur.

The quiet statement makes me recoil;
Withdrawing back into myself, eyes glazed over.
I bruise so easily these recent times
Much like the sky above us
When thunder has beaten it black and blue.
A symphony begins out on the lake.

Drops trace down my cheeks
As you raise my chin with those icy fingers;
Lips brushing mine for one sweet moment
Before you turn and vanish
Into the mist among the reeds;
Leaving me alone with the smell of the rain.