battle of the nile

there laying

in an attempt to watch

the air in your hand

it is the memory of the name

of the widest river you used to know

that flows out first

when you are promising that this

my arms my legs my body swimming with yours

is it

all there is to recall

though your fifth birthday is beginning to be lost like

that one tragedy with all those people gone

that could never be forgotten

or like your first kiss that is floating away

at the same time

with whoever it was back then

that made you loosen your lips onto mine now

in a knowing warm worming way

that wants to ask

is the darkness of a hug a cocoon

does this destruction leave more

than what was

are butterflies still caterpillars

or do they die to be

something else

left behind by the universe

how large is this this anyways

you say later

in a tiny room with tinier lights

that even then

you only stay in the corner of

despite my blind continuing hands

imploring you to feel you

before they are stopped midflight

during the deepest of nights

when you extend your arm

that is tattooed with some kind of yellowed monarch

to check your phone with a nod a hmmm

when the exact day of that tragedy was

how many were to be no more

and what it meant for now

because you forget