Student Publishing Program ::

Dena Guo

Too Late, Boy

Sprinting between opposite terminals, I’m late.
           later than the white rabbit that Alice met.
Sprinting in a purple, poof-y princess dress,
I gasp as I trip over my own clumsiness.
           curse the sugar overdose fueling another crazy dream
A boy catches me.
His face startles me.
           That face.
           My last memory of his face
                       blurred with bittersweet tears.
           My last memory of his touch
                       a desperate cling, unwilling to part.
He speaks.
He says all the words he wished he said.
               all the words he never said.
               all the words he was too scared to say.
                         Words flow easy now,
                          like thirty-second notes parading on sheet music
                          on the stand between us.
                                      Stand partners for life,
                                      Nothing for real.
I’m sorry, he says.
I miss you, he says,
I love you.
              One wish granted
              far too late.

                                                  He no longer belongs in my dreams.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2012 EDITION]