before the kiss

before the kiss
breath tumbling from
parted lips like
easy mist rolling
over rocks in
the waves one
moon pulls forward
people for a moment like
planets closing on
tension for only
a second while
between them generations
of warring arise
pulled by the cosmos
closer to this pout
as a frozen
dance with leg
extended and quivering
on fractions above
a canyon of a floor
pressing on new air
refusing to collapse
as a mass of bony letters
challenges the bumpy road
to pull them from an open car
speeding curving hills spewing
gravel off the bridge to
hasty water beneath
dragging the haunted heels of
a summer almost finished
without this kiss while
grasping the haste it
needs to land and
bury for some
other side of
tangible emotion
before it dies

so instead you pull
away and let those
years linger