In the Dark

We met in the dark.

In the loud.

In the crowded.                            

Blaring music boomed from each of the speakers. People yelling. Drinking. Laughing. Venice is, after all, the original city of sin and vice. Foreign languages resonated all around the room. I was among strangers, but still entirely in ecstasy. Women wore glittering masks revealing only their eyes. Carnevale was indeed in full furor. Lost, yet at home, I trembled with the uncertainty of what was to come.

Our eyes met for a single moment. The ocean shade swimming in yours flooded my subconscious during that piercing instant. I drowned beyond succor. 

We both knew then what would be. What would never be. It was only a matter of time. 

We knew nothing. 

                We knew it all.

You walked me home. I don’t walk with strangers, but after two hours and a few Spritz you were no stranger. Inexplicably, I trusted you to lead me through a city of winding canals and cumbersome alleys. Your lips encompassed mine by my door, and I knew not where I was any longer. Breathless and vibrant, I forced myself to tear away from your embrace. The intensity of the moment terrified me. You were no ordinary man and this was no ordinary kiss. I knew then I had no escape.

                                               You sought me.

                         I let myself be sought without resisting.

An enchanted world of canals, freedom, and dark nights revolved around us. I strained to conceal the truth of my soul, yet somehow you saw it as clearly as your own reflection.

With you I lived the bliss which comes only with the impossible. Every moment is lived to the extreme. Attraction is love. Anger is fury. Longing is agonizing. A single touch electrifies.

                               But such bliss can be a burden.

It numbs your rationale. It strips you of your judgment. And it leaves you with nothing. 

Nothing 

            at 

               all.

                                             Fallout is cruel.

It sees only through the eyes of pride. We never said goodbye. We never kissed goodbye. Yet I memorized your face. Your skin. Your hair. Your scent. The taste of your lips is engraved in my taste buds. Stubborn, it refuses to leave. I refuse to forget.

You persist to live in a place where only I can touch you. Even then, you remain untouchable.

After all this time, all that remain are questions:

If I shall never see you again, why do your eyes constantly pierce mine at night?        

If my distant memories are now the only space I have for you, why do you insist on invading every orifice of my mind?     

If you find yourself an entire world away, how are you ever-present?

If the world itself is an obstacle, why do you crowd my subconscious?

                                                         No.

I will not forget.

It was in the dark that you knew me and I knew you.

         

We’ll always have Venice.

Venice will always have us.