Do not tell me of love.
Tell me instead of passion;
of secrets, of hope.
Tell me the stories that the willow branches
whisper to one another in crossing
as they wrinkle the still pond,
and disrupt the merriment
of the minnows.
Speak to me in the tongues of stones,
of sand grains, side by side,
thrust together by the bellows of the ocean,
and the grating crinkle
of being tossed once more into the fray.
Show me the glowworms that hide
behind the moss curtains of your eyelids.
Let them expand to
illuminate your freckles,
your smile.
We are not two people thrust together.
We are not two lovers sharing our bed of thorns.
We have sewn our clothes from threads of memories
and garnished them with beads of teeth
lost by young mouths
as they grew old enough to forget.
We are two ecosystems, conjoined.
We are intertwined closer than the roots of a carrot,
twisting into themselves.
We are seeds, yet to bloom, but cracking
the cases of ourselves.
Bring me yourself, so that I may do the same.
Together we will explore the forbidden craters
of this world
and only the truth
will leave our tongues.
Kieran Rundle, a high school student, is the owner and editor-in-chief for Sincerely Magazine LLC. She is on the staff for Miracle Magazine, and has worked for three years as an upper editor on Albemarle High School’s Literary Magazine. She is an award winning artist, poet, prose writer, and playwright. Her work can be found in a plethora of places including Charlottesville Area Transit Bu
sses, The UVA Special Collections Library, Quail Bell Online Magazine, and the Crossroads III Anthology. She is also an avid theatre kid, cat lover, stargazer, cookie eater, and chocolate addict. Find her at redbubble.com/people/owlgirl.
Foxglove Journal 