The flickers were fanned

and burnt your eyes blind;

bubbles burst from sewn-up lips,

squeezed out sighs and promises.

Comic book captions

you said never happened:

only a dream, my hallucination

that wasn't symbolic

and I'm not a prophet.

Why did I taste the odour of vomit

and fail to stroke your hair?

Time swings swift on this rolling boat

and fingers falter on the present.

Memories coagulate, stick in my throat.

Bubbles and dreams, you laughed -

and you were evanescent.