#insert shrug emoji that im too lazy to search up

in dreamscapes time turns snake-tongue sinuous,
its own end slipped neatly down a narrow throat.
there, you’re stretching small hands into the air 

again, far back enough any single flaw in the weaving
would’ve been unravelled. but it’s just wishful thinking
to believe it was ever so simple, isn’t it? winter’s end

will come as a mist-skinned dragon, skyscraper roofs
crawling from the fade of its body. all the right words 
discarded for the wrong language, all the right faces 

drawn over the wrong bodies. the hands taking yours 
are tipped with claws. the mirrors will stay cold 
long past the first buds of birdsong. they understand

the sunlight will only warm whatever it can touch.
if i remind you this is a dream, will you say something 
meant to be believed? will you wait for the cherry trees

to bloom again? i swear i never wanted anyone to cry 
because of me. i don’t know
                                             if you can say the same.

—q.l.