Peppermint

Do you?
Love the girl who is quietly sleeping.
On the sofa in your living room.
Heart beating    steadily    under your splayed hand    an

unopened
bottle of Israeli wine left under the table.
Both too tired to drink it,
you leave it for later    another night    when your eyes can stay open.

Remember?
Holding her hand at 2 am,
running in a circle, feet kissing a rubber track.
Until you fall    laying on yesterday’s rain    wanting to swallow

the sky,
so you can feel stars in your stomach.
Forget butterflies and caterpillars and ladybugs and spiders,
it’s too cold for them right now    not even 32०    you need to put your jacket on.

Do you?
Love the girl who you just said goodnight to?
Who gave you a bag of loose leaf peppermint tea.
Who knows it is    your favorite    because,    you mentioned it once

before
in front of a fire while it rained.
The clouds were heavy with themselves last night too.
Perfect weather for wishing    you had told her    you love her.

Remember?
Drinking up the cold,
how delicate it made you feel walking with her.
Downtown, past the man    who was    feeding the birds

sliced bread,
even though you shouldn’t feed birds bread.
Even though you shouldn’t fall in love so quickly.
In your mind    you joined him,    to drop    pieces of torn up white bread    to the birds.

AOIFE SMITH is a first-year student at Smith College and intended Study of Women and Gender major and poetry concentrator. They have previously been published in the literary journal The Quill.