Lanai

Often, it is the most deserving people who cannot help loving those who destroy them.
—Hermann Hesse—

The wind's hibiscus fingers reached through
the open sliding door and smoothed my hair
with dreams of coral glass and chocolate nuts.
I rolled into the gift the charmed lanai
delivered. Calming hums of pineapple
lullabies asked me to stay in paradise.

I feigned sleep as if my departure
eased with torrents of drowning denial.

The misted midnight air knew my secret
but wished me honeyed peaceful sleep despite
my lie and despite our sinking concord.
The curled Hawaiian draft draped its bent leg
atop mine and gently lowered itself
into the sweat-syruped cradle of my arms.

The thought of leaving made the subtle breeze
of island balm decay in gales of ruin.

Back home, the chills of dreamless slumber beckoned
the breeze once more for humid kisses—wet
against the marooned contours of my back.