I met you once in a dream.

Standing in the distance, you were hazy in the afternoon sunlight.

Dandelion petals kissed your feet in praise as you drifted towards me.

Coal sat in your eye sockets and tree bark covered your hands.

The silk of your voice draped over my body as you spoke my name.

Your gaze felt like hot rays of sun; scorching.

You held a bouquet of red roses.

They beckoned me and I took them–paper–

they crumpled and disintegrated in my grasp–

leaving a cascading stream of red tears in their wake.