September 3, 2023 - Rahil Najafabadi’s “Bedroom Eyes”

Lilies are running through the water, I am asleep.
Life is so full when I can’t see, the color is painfully
red. Or was it roses on every café tabletop, as I ran
to see you before I finished my coffee. Wasn’t the worst
an argument over nothing? About the problems we don’t
have. I am penniless without watching the birds run away
from their inevitable mating. I am without sleep without
this window, the frame of people animated and rendered
to make my awakening convincing. I am still not awake,
My eyes give it away my dreaming, I smile without them
unless I’m looking right at you. The sewing machine sounds
like my distant laugh and I wonder if everyone can hear me
speaking to my mannequin. I didn’t blow any candles tonight.
I let it burn with my eyes from the light of a thousand keys.