Image: © Andreia Abreu Remigio
Author: Andreia Abreu Remigio
To Robim, the dog
I.
“Sum total we were seven kids with me,
One brother vanished, one’s son turned the gun.
My sisters? Jealous of what I could be,
How close I would be flying to the sun.
I took my talent to the capital,
Whence I could almost get to the New World.
The lessons I learned were all tangible.
“Can you please tell me what are my words worth?”
I asked them, worried, waiting for my call,
I had the life that I’d dreamed of at last.
Above the landmarks I could smell the salt,
And honestly, I thought the worst was past.
My waves met his coastline by accident –
He got my missing piece of innocence.
II.
My hand he asked the man who put me here.
Our love was like two burning flames combined.
My freezing hands could hold his pain, my dear.
So magical like folklore was his mind.
When he would let his heavy eyelids close,
I’d polish plates as hard as a devout.
And he would not let anyone oppose…
His lips would make any seeds and sweet peas sprout.
Believed in him like in my childhood’s dream.
I’d swing and sway softly in my chest.
Remember times when he would glow and gleam,
There was no reason to go and get dressed.
We tried to overlook the tears, truth was
The stasis amplified each of our flaws.
III.
And he went looking for another one,
As if I were somehow wasting honour.
Eventually I guess he found some
Fragment in bottles. My once bright colours
Are now eclipsed… I’d keep doing the laundry
Like Groundhog Day, and everything was gauche
In my life as he was out the country.
Through my curses and cries unharmed he goes
And goes. I had the shiniest voice, now
It’s rusting. Our coming of age has come
And burned out. You know the love story died out –
So what is this poem for anyway, um?”
Absentminded I hear “Happy birthday
By the way! You should call more!” I hang up.