Absolution

Absolution

The grease drips out your lips
like assassin's tears
a welcome rarity

in a place that doesn't stop
not even for us.

We fall into a stupor
of love and MSG

as we climb skyscrapers
so we feel like giants
belittled by our own mortality

and I shiver
because it's freezing,
but mostly
because
you're beside me

watching over
millions of man-made stars
in all colors and sizes.

There is no darkness
to hide our intentions.
Only light.

Yet we still can't see.

In subterranean meeting places
and in underground tunnels
where I exchanged
breaths with a thousand souls,

and it is still freezing.

There is no silence.
There is no warmth
in blank faces of indifference

where they trim their fingernails
all except one
for efficient nose-picking.

There is no quiet here,
where they shout
"Good morning!" as loud as "Fuck off."
precisely because
no one is willing to listen.

And in turn
we scream our lungs out
just to say
"I love you."
or
"Goodbye."

not because we can't hear it
but because we don't want to.

-- 7:23pm Starbucks Coffee, Guangyuan Road, Shanghai, China, Asia, Earth, Solar System, Universe