The Stronger

128 | SANDRA LIM The Stronger Sandra Lim poetry With me, life becomes sweeter, so she loses some of the ability to defend herself. Yet even this gives her a forlorn sense of satisfaction. I know it by the distracted half-smile on her face. People believe love can do so much! As when they talk incessantly about the weather: they sound as if they’re waiting for something incredible to come their way. Nestled against me, isn’t she a moron of joy. She loves to tell stories because they’re already finished by the start of the telling. Her favorites are driven by longing; she reads and reads, fear rising. But it often appears to me as if she’s taking elaborate pains to hurt herself more accurately. Deep in my heart, these things just don’t interest me: the indiscriminate e≠ects of time. How the worst can happen. So many things will lie unrealized, that’s the math. The way she links things together only brings out the violence. Some of our perfect nights you can’t put into words. And certain kinds of defeat, they just keep you talking through your hat. SANDRA LIM | 129 ...