Empathy

5:00am under a streetlamp.
The curve of your hip under my hand fresh in my mind.
Horn in the distance, loud and full of motion.
The subtle tremor when we touched.

5:05am with the distant threat of dawn.
The uncertainty as we parted, flustered.
A small shift in the air, a soft pressure.
All my small talk melted at the contact of your lips.

5:07am and the world speeds faster.
Dizzy vertigo, the displacement out of time and context.
Thoughts of home and sleep.
Anxiety in cadence with our breaths.

5:10am and you speed further away.
Fear that our empathy is false, wraith-like.
My life resumes, scented with your sweat.
The memory of a kiss, burning fresh in my mind.