Disconnected but ritualistic driving. At night I lay awake with her. My body hijacked by her rapid breathing while blank ceilings turned into windows of her gradiose dreams. Dreams she made me believe could be mine if I held her tight enough. The only blackness that existed then was the night. ~~There are no lakes here. There are no seashores or geysers. No glaciers or volcanoes. It isn't home to the widest river, of the biggest waterfall. It doesn't have the deepest canyon or the highest peak. Yet, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the the number one most visited park in the nation.~I become mesmerized in the smallest things these days, like watching tea run down the side of the cup where my lip once momentarily lived. But that is nothing compared to standing near my window in the morning. I see the branches are stripping down, naked without shame. Arms descending and lonely just for the touch of the vibrancy they once held. ~The controversy of environmental law may benefit