Secret Engraving

Location

30236
United States
33° 31' 16.7052" N, 84° 19' 21.5364" W

Don’t let Mama or Papa know about the secret love.
No, not about the stolen kisses on the front porch,
Or the hand holding in the darkness.
They ask but I wouldn’t dare tell them about the endless conversations.
Talking about anything, everything, yet nothing.
So I keep him locked away in a forbidden box in my pocket.
Carrying all of him with me wherever our lives take us.
Mama’s always told me how to love and be heartbroken.
But never to love and be happy.
So I find it in this dusted, tangled, old box engraved Justin.
It’s just as bold as a moon with no stars on a dark night.
The box looks just like him.
A thick, curly afro that looked like it needed a lawn mower rather than clippers.
Skin so dark and so pure, looking at him is like looking at a starful yet moonless night.
He has this space right in between his teeth, you could stick a toothpick through…
And watch it hang there for hours.
Yep, looks just like him…
Sometimes the box gets heavy when I run.
But not for long, once my mind begins to wander again.
I’m right back into those heavy hands that feel like clouds to my fingers.
And those dark, big lips that taste like the sweetest Georgia peach tea.
All this running and hiding for a forbidden rock,
That should be no bigger than a pebble from Morman’s Arm Creek.
My uncle took us to fish every summer.
But he has taken me so far away from My Hell,
I can’t find my way back.
We spent hours on the porch talking while the bugs use us as chew toys.
But I don’t mind, as long as I’m smiling by the end of the night.
All the nights I would be terrified about kissing him, but always being led the way.
Or the nights when we couldn’t,
Cause someone would be spying through the big, whitewashed framed window.
Only we knew where our conversation would lead us to, and wouldn’t hesitate to take us there.
I’d have days, maybe everyday, where I would find myself daydreaming.
All about the dark, cute, cheesy guy from down the street.
His soul is always what I wanted the most.
One day he gave me his bracelet, I thought it was a silly gesture.
Sometimes when I find myself getting dark and heavy,
I snuggle up to it pretending it’s the forbidden boy from down the street.
He tries to take it back, but lets me win in the end.
I wished it was really him.
Holding me tight to his broad chest, stroking my hair like he usually does,
Telling me something really corny, but I just laugh.

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