Once

In the note book is written in a too-formal hand, the ink pressed too close and long against the page with each letter painstakingly formed by one craving this private perfection.

"Think ahead
don't look behind
within the present,
eyes on mine.

Deep and open,
broken signs
a goodness pure
and undermined.

Push and pull
through weave and thread
this Once, forever
done and said.

Stop with silence
stop with words
put it off
and go unheard.

Nothing gives
and nothing takes
so much as Once,
our sweet mistake.

So keep it close,
a secret song.
What Once was here's
already gone."