Steamy Nights: A Summer Love Poem

I was angry at the summer sun,
Furious at the wavy air that hovered over the pavement.
I resented my shadow
And held it hostage by standing under
Tall trees whose shadows cast over my own.

You lost me when you said goodbye
In a voice that sounded
Unattached and unaffected
Like the dead leaves in a pile beneath us.
Goodbye like the sky is blue,
Like water is wet,
Like fire burns,
That awful, matter-of-fact sort of goodbye.

Those chills from ice that slipped down
Our throats when chased by cold drinks,
The crunching of the cubes between our molars
Had signaled to me that some things are painfully beautiful and special
Even though they are beyond typical.
Things crunch.
Things chill.
But there was a love balloon attached and floating
Above all our actions if we did them together--
If we synchronized and inosculated.

I scrub away the sweat and grime of the day
With hurt hands,
With running nose,
And red eyes.
Hello Summer love.
Goodbye Summer love.

We knew love didn't we?
Yes, we did.
But simple goodbye
Tears asunder
And rips into tiny indiscernible pieces
What was whole and thriving.
Goodbye sweat and sting.
Goodbye wavy air.
Goodbye hot love
And steamy nights.