Nighttime Elegy

Courtesy of P.S. Mua

At night, we share a language only for you and me

Our vocabulary is a mixture of my forgotten tongue

— the one that you gained

And words

that are strange to my ear

But a lexicon that is familiar to my soul

Your eyes still warm the room

Like you carry the setting sun

Every which way

And I still trek through your clumsy Chinese accent

But I know.

Your words are jubilant. They carry love.

I’ve seen you three times since you’ve died

And I would rather not remember my dreams

But I savor the ones with you.

It’s been long

I’m starting to lose the details of you here

Like the love language that I lose there