6 months is half a year is a lifetime

I.

Sunshowers come unexpectedly, with the first warning drops breaking
Through the light like some god’s arrows. That is the kind of pain
That ambushes me and I stumble before I fall, pinned down
By the volley of terrible pining that course through me like poison,
Blackening my bone, touching the soft spot in my soul. I squint at the sky
And wonder why I am dying, why have I been struck, why it hurts to remember
Happiness that grows next to you, and why it feels colder when rain and
Wind goes past the unfamiliar empty space beside and I realise
— This is why they call it missing someone.

II.

I dreamt of the star on the other side of the Earth, or something. The one
We must learn to share now, me peering through your eyes when you sleep.
Stars reach their feeble fingers to us and reduce the light years to nothing.
So I borrow from their magic and forget about how far apart the dark now
Is that I can no longer reach out in my sleep and feel to find your hand.
Between us we must fill the space with the starlight of warmth that pinches
My heart. Shuffle our feet, till we learn the steps of this dance and close the
Space of yearning to a perfect healthy distance where our fingertips still reach
Without tears, without fear, and only in tenderness.

III.

Who is good at explaining the weather and readings the stars must necessarily
Be good at arithmetic and counting the days to resist false hope. Cruel
Numbers – they resist comforting you. 6 months is a long time, but 9 months
Will drag its feet when weighed by the weight of wet clothes and sorrow.
Strictly speaking, it has been a year since the clockwork precision orchestrated
The orbiting of two planets into each other’s paths. In other words, a lifetime has
Passed in half a year, and the scales are tipped and equations are balanced and
The future will arrive suddenly, inevitably, bright as a stray arrow. Soon,
I can sit under your shade and reach for the fruit much greater than the happiness
You have bore thus far. I cannot imagine how sweet it must taste between my lips.