Muddy Prose by Mandy Olivieri

I don’t know what’s more beautiful than right before dawn.

Dark silence turns safe.

A bird—

No, two.

Existence muted gives way to vibration.

A black cat smells my face.

Then makes biscuits on my pillow.

Fragments of a dream surface,

And I still feel her hand in mine.

And I ask her in my mind if she can too.

I’ve loved her for so long.

The moon is still visible.

It’s worth one more glance.

Tea, just so.

And then the sun, whose light began to seep upward long before I realized,

Fully lifts itself.

And I sigh, appreciative, but also sad that it’s over.