I stare at Venus. Her skin is like glass and milk, you can see her veins, blue snakes swim to the surface to take a drink. In one hand she clutches a bag shaped like a blue shell whilst the other plays tricks with a cigarette. Blue Purple smoke curls around her fingers. Fire and water. You reach out to touch her. Her eyes are like lasers – shimmering beneath the waves. She doesn’t flinch as she throws herself against the rocks. cuts her tongue out and flings it into the waves. Lapis lazuli. Defiant, strong, lost, fragile. Her hair is the waves. Mother, daughter, lover… Her heart thunders across the ocean. You can feel the rain burning your skin when she cries out in pain. Her lover curls his toes in the sand and ignores her. He has a tattoo on his hip. Reminds me of you. like lovers who etch their name in the sand.

Remember when I opened my lips over your hip bone and saw things only lovers will remember.  Scrawled angrily across your skin in italics. A language I didn’t = understand. I asked you what it meant. You said you didn’t remember… was a long time ago – Drunk – on a lads holiday, Ayia Napa or somewhere. I don’t believe you. That night we cast spells and threw all our coins in the fountain. I prayed at the alter.

The salt hits the back of my mouth and I watch you float away.