autumn cleans after tropical mornings
when evenings have closed down the sky
and the streets are opening the bars:

what say you? shall we drink? a final toast:
to our successful consummation, the summation
of vows and promise –

the togetherness of two beds in eight walls;
even the afternoons have split for us
into coffee in mugs a city apart –

the vase that greets us is a burning cold
staring, reaching deep into me: a ventriloquist
moving me, mouthing beyond me

but the rose is sly, and i agree
when it speaks for me:
                                    color fades, even in the abundance of –

water? the river would eat every hue
fire? the furnace would drown its vibrance
love? could it be

we loved too much until there is none
to give? that we painted the world red too early,
burning the wick before the wax?

could it be that there was none at all?
that the candle was not lit and
the bucket was empty?

what about the mornings we spent?
what about it? did we even move?
because i once felt the earth shake –

or was i only falling?

About the Author:

Jedidiah Vinzon is studying physics at the University of Auckland. His works can be read in Tarot, Circular and the Bitter Melon Review, with many more forthcoming. You can find him on Instagram @jayv.poetry