The Longest Night by Nicoly
I was told that the world would be emptier without you.
Well, that's not true.
This grief that sits inside of me has taken all over my surroundings.
The world is a looping rendition of a play I don’t really want to see
with you in every scene.
I carry your burnt face (a mix of reds and yellows and purples) everywhere I go.
When I look around you're standing in front of my stove,
or the mirror in your mother's home.
You're sitting on my bedroom's floor, and we try to unveil the future using poker cards.
We walk down the streets and bend the night around our fingertips.
We're in the kitchen,
and you listen (you always listen), and you laugh, and you choke;
it never went through your mind that time could be a social construct.
You're here when I close my eyes.
What I'm trying to tell you is that I haven't forgotten, that I cannot let you go yet.
We didn't have that much time,
I didn't give you that many smiles,
but I did give you a lot to ask about when you reached the edge of our dimension.
So, do the secrets of the Universe have an end?
If so, how close are you from uncovering all of them?
When I get to you, will you help me to understand them?
“‘The Longest Night’ was my very first attempt at expressing my feelings on a real life event through poetry. I’m not familiar with writing my own story as well as I’m not familiar with talking about what’s bothering me. I rather write fiction and deal with my feelings alone, but the occurrences that inspired this piece were too much to handle in silence. At first I did not write it to be published, I thought it lacked cohesiveness when I first wrote this poem, and even after some editing it still isn’t exactly what I want it to be. However, I’m deciding on giving it a try, which is unusual for me. I hardly give second chances to myself.”
Nicoly is an an aspiring author & poet from Brazil still struggling with words, identity, and self-expression. @whateversouls on Twitter, @nicobtnct on Instagram, and misanthropesheaven on Tumblr.