Love

POEM | AROHA / LOVE

Written by Hirimaia Eketone (they/them) | @hiri_music | Te Ao Māori Editor

Is it the breath that tickles my neck

When the trees are silent, drenched in bark

When there’s nothing present save for my beating heart

Spreading that breath to my blood?

I feel it evaporating.

Through my skin

Trapped in my clothes

Scents that swim-

Through the recess of thoughts in my mind

Tangling neurons that race to connect-

Though it’s silly

To wonder

To think

To consider what might have been-

Or what was here?

Not the droplet that drips from my cheek

As the breath- yes that breath!

Still persists

It is nameless yet still distinct.