Midnight
An extra pillow for your lack
A song pats my back
I listen to the dark

Boom
Another missile –
Hostages, memorials, protests 
The Holy Land vies
Outside my safe room, people are pawns
The Mediterranean Sea marries the sky 
Rocket alerts usurp messages
Third degrees overrule dates
Mars becomes home

I waste on a firm mattress for the first time in fourteen months
A sunken futon on a floor never allured so much
A dirty hostel’s cramped dorm, or a stranger’s couch
Highlights colored the past
Now, the only life born in my sheets is poems 
Flashcards replace friends
I study languages instead of folks

If I could tempt back into your tempest
And starve myself for another week abroad
To walk more than I ate
To see your face and hear your voice
I am starting to forget your accent
Every day, I remind myself of your guffaw
Little effort is needed, even in a gathering
Blind is the blade of my awe

Clocks run late to your patience
Hearts hammer to your passion
Nuns blush at your reservedness
Hot springs seethe at your warmth
'Tis but the tip of the iceberg
Who are you?
A bottom without a top
You made my knees tremble
And soothed me more than temple stays
My map of your quirks is uncharted
Your flaws, I could never loath

Sunrise to sunset, coats to T-shirts
East to West – at your behest –
Turning, twisting, waiting
For the harmony of your chaos
Here or there, ever a foreigner
The life of the party in the Far East
Can’t notice the Middle East in a corner

It wilts me that you bloom in my leave
My oasis is a drought
You bask in someone else’s shade
Sour is the seed of empathy you plant in my throat
Fever dreams steam wonder
Are you lonely?
When you're with him
Do you need me? Are you happy?
Talking to the Wailing Wall
What if you choked on a nut?
What if I no longer over-thought –
We wouldn’t even hear
You wouldn’t even mourn

With the heat of a pillow against my chest 
Curled up, afraid
That we’ll never exchange another word 
I speak; you react
In your own singular way
Empires rise and fall. Our lips hang
“Yes –”
“Yes –”
“No”

I can’t do this, can’t concentrate 
Till I confessed my love, which you taught
A torch in the dark can’t extinguish its flame 
Where does your wind blow?
In this maze of mixed signals 
Every turn leads to a close 
If I found your opening
I would tell you one, three, five – words – 

I'm losing a game I never wanted to play
I turn right, you're left – 
Dead end. Hide-and-seek, your tongue-in-cheek
I’m lost

In the darkness of a pit, realization dawns
For the first time in my life
Too late to rejoice
From the start, it was uneven
You liked. I adored

So if I wished you were miserable
Would that alienate you even more?
How dare you smile in my absence
Walk this Earth and not recall
It drives me mad to know
That your life goes on
That you don't think about me at all –

Midnight
An extra pillow for your lack
A song pats my back
I can't escape my thoughts

Time to hibernate