Once....

Once..... I swore I loved you more than any other. You couldn't be near me without somehow touching me. I felt safe when your large, soft hands embraced mine. I believed then that your hands were mirrors of your tender heart. When you held me, your finger made an invisible trail from my temple to my chin. I closed my eyes and vowed never to forget how that felt. I would have to stand on the tips of my toes just to lock my arms around your neck. You held me so tightly, as though you never wanted to let me go. I would run my hands down the back of your head, that you hadn't shaved in two days, and it felt like velvet on my fingertips. My face was so red from your stubble after we kissed that I looked like a child with Kool-Aid stains around my mouth. Your eyes were indecisive. On Monday they were deep blue, and by Tuesday they had been overcome by a sea of green emeralds. At night, you would kiss me, and my lips would burn from the VapoRub you had put on yours to keep them from drying and cracking. When you woke in the morning to shower, my eyes would crave you and follow your naked body to the bathroom door. Now..... This dusty film plays over and over in my head as I sit alone in my bedroom, wearing your sweatshirt, clinging to your photo, praying to forget....