Nighttime Elegy
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