when her head is bowed and her lips are red

the roses in her hands bleed through her skin

when the sky fell asleep, it whispered then

"don't you leave, pretty girl, she's right around the bend"

i rush to you instead

she swallowed the stars, and breathed all the petals in

even when her throat was sore, and her tongue was torn

and she couldn't remember her dreams

when the daylight ran a finger down her face

the sunshine called out her name

she rose to greet the clouds

but i grabbed her hands

when her sleeves fall down, i found the shadows buried in her collarbones

warm, and laced with indigo

breathless kisses, breathless sobs

i held her cheeks, and traced her coffee constellations

her caramel skin, her cotton clothes

her sugar laced hair and cream filled lips

she smelled of sugar plum and purple

"darling, you don't have to run, you don't have to be afraid,"

"i'd hold you even if your castle buried us in shattered colors and broken wonders"

if i fell and stained my hands

the color of her tears

if the flavor of marigolds left her torn tongue

and her bitter lungs were full of weeping orchids

and her bruises kept her skin cold

and i could no longer feel her hair, her cheeks, her lips

i would love her, and love her longer

her beauties found in all her dents

i'd hold her, and hold her closer

even if she no longer smelled of sugar plum and purple

for sugar plum and purple

is not the reason i chose to stay