Adumbral

He has her taste on his tongue
Like chocolate
        Bitter, unbearable
And he wonders if his heart will stop beating
Before he hits the ground

No, she hadn't wanted to kiss him
And she whispers,
“You have always been my worst way of coping.”
              But he already knew that

His jaw is clenched
          And he walks away as though the street were made of glass
She bites her lower lip,
Remembers the cigarette-chapped taste of him

She wonders if stars feel the same way she does
            When they plummet from heaven

        The boy has a secret
        It has been buried in his sock drawer longer than he can remember
But he would never admit how fragile he was
        All that mattered--
She hadn't wanted to kiss him
He knew by the way she turned her face away

This night is longer than any other in creation
There's a million little stars scattered across his bedspread
They have names like
                zopiclone
                      amobarbital
                              triazolam

One by one, he rolls them on his tongue
Until they find the endless precipice at the back of his throat

I wasn't good enough to be your star
But when I burn out
              I will be your supernova

Under her own canopy of dreams
Her eyelids flutter
Her mouth crinkles into a frown
And says a word that may have been, “no”
                                Or may have been, “listen”
                                  Or may have been, “never”
But wasn't “love”

And above their heads
A star is screaming as it falls
        And the twilight becomes just a little dimmer