A lover’s poem

by Hiwot Adilow

the sun loves me so much people say they see him when i walk into a room.

i am golden. the sun loved me enough to leave a kiss from himself on my cheeks.

the sky could say the same thing.

he wakes her from a mourning color.

he turns her over from blush to bruise. she blues,

only grabbing glimpses of him before he dusks away.

she turns a violent hue and i do too. both of us grow

grey and starless when he goes. we flood everything

with how full we are of thunder.

it’s nighttime, the sun has sunk.

the sky and i almost forget: yesterday

we split a tree down the middle.

this morning, the sun fills us fierce,

we forget our wrath in his warmth.

we remember that we are not always so dark.

we take this truth and shawl it around our shoulders.