maybe i'm just a portrait of all the people i've loved and nothing else tastes so bittersweet. a little dash of my ex-best friend in the way i walk and laugh. my scarf tied in a double knot for that beautiful stranger at the bus stop. a whisper of my mother and the sigh of a lover in the way i braid my hair. pockets full of fire and infinite regret like my dad or his dad or his dad. the tilt of my jaw, the curve of my smile, everything, everything is someone else. when they're all gone, my own reflection will be the biggest ghost i have.
remember also that you are reflected in other people. a brownie recipe you gave your sister. a ladybug brooch you bought for your grandmother that she gave to a daughter who gave it to a niece who gave it to a friend. a bit of your laugh, a touch of your humor, the bounce to your step on blue mornings.
when you are gone, your echo will be everywhere, muddied up with a million other moments and mundanities. a stranger on a subway thought you were beautiful and learned a new way to tie a scarf.
it is not quite remembering, but we haunt each other. we keep each other alive.
