Perceive It!
C.K May
The moral of the story is that we have always loved in sync. There’s not much of August left, but this will
still exist beyond the picnic blankets and the loud.
My mother would say:
PERCEIVE IT! THERE IS WILDERNESS! THERE ARE RIVERBANKS YOU CANNOT SWIM IN!
The crickets would cry:
ARE YOU EMPTY? ARE YOU CRAZY? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THE HOLE IN YOUR CHEST?
It’s true, yes, I am still gaping. I am still gasping for air, still inhaling your breath. You told me that God
examines the righteous, but can He see where you end and I begin? Where do we meet in the middle? I
am still lonely and afflicted; I am still afraid.
I said:
I LOVE YOU, BUT TOMORROW I WILL STILL BE THE SAME.
You said:
AS LONG AS YOU’RE STILL YOU.
July was kind, but these days you’re sick of spitting out blood. I’ll braid your hair back. We can still sit in
the sun. Tomorrow, the cicadas will learn of our treachery. Tomorrow, we may swim in the lake.
May is a friend, a poet, a lover, and a writer based in Southern Ontario. Their writing has only been recognized by close friends and AO3 readers, but they are grateful for the attention just the same. May loves to shop at the thrift store beside the gym, eat out with friends while paying in coins, and make art of their loved ones, whether they love May back or not. They are an aspiring Starbucks connoisseur, dreaming of trying many custom drinks. May is a high school student praying to pass their classes and make new friends while simultaneously keeping old ones, and their favourite animals are golden tigers and cross foxes.