Lily
~ Liza McVinney

I hold my empty body
In the shadow of a tree,
Miles from when you kept me
Clutched in a glow of frost and sunlight,
Cloaked in your quilts,
Cartoons and cold noodles
Long mornings, tossed golden in your laughter

I was a canyon then,
Parched and powder-red
When you flooded me
You quenched the very core of my earth

Buds cracked through hot stone
Left me swollen, with a second heartbeat

“Uproot,” you whispered.
”Uproot,” you roared.

So I spilled out in spools
Dark velvet
Cherries and sinew
I blinked against the blare
To stay awake
With you

Size of a pea
Size of a dime
My small purple flower
My sweet part of you
Still shedding when you joined her as a ghost

Savage, scavenging
Snow and strange skin
You shifted as I clung to your outline
“Stay,” I plead on both knees

You were swift when you left,
Like a lily
Caught in breeze