hideaway

purpled chipping fingernails smile up at me
as gold and silver glint from
small but thick finger
sprouting from thin wrists,
barbed wire circling one, the other bare.
the sweater is too warm for the day,
all long-sleeved and black with rainbows,
but I don't care...
mellow music floats above,
the singer, unknown;
the bed sits unmade;
wrinkled dirty laundry sits crumpled on the floor
with the cat curled up, asleep, in the man-made mess...
I wish you could be here now
so I could share this
vanilla nut coffee,
skim milk only, lots of sugar-
I wish you could curl up on my bed to sleep
while I am busy writing...
as strewn about as this room is,
I know you'd just smile
and say it's messy, but it could be home...
but it's not really home without you-