by Emily Madsen

Created on: April 12, 2011

The best of times.
I knew it was coming,
but it hurt all the same.

And so I found myself in an airport.
In the belly of the night.
Wide expanses of clean airplaneness;
the ghostly glossy echos of wheeled luggage,
faded people, foreign dust.

I didn’t know where I was going,
only where I wanted to stay.
and so I got on a plane that was headed west,
I ate pretzels and drank a little plastic cup of coke

I said thank you and please.
I squirmed in my seat, leaned against the window,
and watched the plane sink into the night.

I didn’t know where I was going,
only where I wanted to stay.

I was heading west,
flitting through the time zones,
staying in the day;
the last day where you and I;
you and I were together.

I’ll keep that night with me always,
and though the sun’s rising on you,
I'm running with the night,
running from the sun,
running from time.
if this day never ends-

But all I’ve got is a one way ticket.
and soon the time zones will bleed together,
and this night will take one last breath,
and with that breath rip me in two.

I don’t know where I’m going,
but I’m not staying here.

I’ll leave whatever's tangled in you,
take what I want with me,
and leave the rest hidden in the night.

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