Fishes and Birds

Even the stiffest of closed upper lips have
eventually talked in lonely trembles when
their chapped skin surfaced and it became clear that they
deserve to be forever without another kiss seeing as how
even ears that hear lose interest in a fumbling stammer.

And even the purest of intentions
have manifested a second face,
one that whispers to someone else in the dead of night
but fate finds them and meets them with heavy mourning light.

So what driest of clamped-shut eyes
can't cry a new sea in which to soak?
Because even the most passive of fishes
forced from the water would choke
on the breath of "I'm sorry."