Amelia Forget-Me-Not

 

The silhouette of your smoke

was so fine to behold

the way it filled your eyes

with the embers of your heart

burning like a funeral pyre

flames lick up the drops I knew

you were shut up in the cellar

rows and rows of bottled beauty

waiting to be uncorked

the corkscrew buried in a dark drawer

I got lost

my smoke-filled eyes gazing 

at your full smoke face

a whole world's smoke in you,
a lava flow of eyes

cascading through your wilderness with fire

and fires on all cylinders an engine

you can't control the lava lanes

with your fire dance

I dance all night

just for you, darling

don't forget me

when your smoke rolls out over the Pacific

and you feel her whitecaps 

grabbing at the hem of your skirt

don't forget me when voices trail off and on

through your radio, your heart

beat beating off our dial

don't forget me when that smoke 

of adventure suddenly clears 

and the sneer of control

casts a long silent look upon you

remember, darling, we are here

on the shore dreaming

oh Amelia dear

I waited and strained

over the Pacific tonight 

trying to make your fair smoke

out of the clouds that appeared.

I heard the hum of your engines

saw your sparkling chrome body

the exaltation of flashbulbs, champagne 

we will toast to everything lost at sea

to freedom

to love

to hell

to air

*Inspired by the movie "Amelia" 2008 with Richard Gere and Hilary Swank.