we run in circles
through streaming boughs
of daylight
until we don't know who we are anymore
and start all over again.
we writhe between dreams
coming up short,
acutely aware
that these moments in which
we lie upward facing the stars,
covered thick with layers of
an afternoon heat;
these moments dissipate
as quickly as
the smoke that spills and falls
from our cherrywhite lips.