secrets

she wraps a smile round her tired face
sick of his heavy rap

this black betty wants to listen to some spiderbait

and there's sunshine on the window

but it doesn't make her happy like she should be

and he remains her silver lining in this tangled cloud of caps and hoodies

what role does she play?

the lead female

this is no longer his monologue

it's the long lost story of this 'he and she', the lyrics to their forgotten song

built first in single notes, then bars then whole movements as he sang it proud from the rooftops

she kept it hidden with the ripped ticket stubs in a shoebox

opposites attract

until he noticed she didn't know the words

and this flight soon crashed as their wings uncurled

his movement of notes rose and fell off the page in a slow mutiny

their lost symphony transformed into two remote soliloquies

and this queen of hearts is now too bent to play

uncrowned, she's pawned off her kingdom, a hasty tray

but it's better to have held aces and castles and gambled all your stakes

mistakes make jokers of us all

a wrong hand played; it all shuffles and falls

a silver lining somewhere links it all

loose pieces kept together, taken apart

back to solitaire

hearts

she wraps a smile round his tired face

and he around hers

and for a moment

they aren't so tired

x