Alicja Kuberska writes

Strangers in the Bar

In the morning the night narrowed her tired eyes.
She hid the silver stars in her furled black wings.
Rosy-fingered Aurora painted stripes on the gray sky,
a chorus of awakened birds greeted the new day.

Dawn found them in the road side bar

- a fragile girl in her femininity, and an old man.
Life paused for a bit and it froze after the next drink.
A moment of spontaneity

removed the masks from their pale faces.

She cried of her sorrow in front of a stranger.
She spoke about her disappointments

and pain over the loss of love.
The tears washed her wounds,

they brought much needed relief.
The mascara flew black like a meandering river on her face.

He listened to the confessions of this young woman.
Venus brought down the curtains of her thoughts,

as she revealed her deeply hidden secrets
and unwanted memories.

He lit another cigarette and was wrapped up in the smoke.
Later he flicked the ash and noticed for the first time
the brightened landscape awakened by the bustling of life
- the rising sun placed its kisses even on the graves.

Iris -- Florian Nicolle