"January" by Giovanni Dania

January

It's the things that make you happy and sad at the same time:
A secret between lovers,
The undiluted laughter of mute children at play,
Memories of an ex.

It's the way her sweet-scented hair cascaded like molten sunlight
On your shoulder when you held each other.
It's the way her lips melted when yours touched them,
And the way they hardened when they were released.
It was in her eyes when she told you she loved you.
It was in her voice when she told you she didn't.

It's in the full moon that exposes you, naked to the world,
The sole, solitary sufferer in a twilight of lovers.
It's in the sun that cannot penetrate your frozen heart.
It's the silent approval from everyone at the beginning of a relationship,
It's the vociferous disapproval at the end.

It's the tunnel, and the light at the end.
It makes you cry and it makes you laugh:
It's the tears, and the laughter.

January 11, 2001