Yellow Wallpaper

I remember the smell
        of my mother’s fingers
after she quit smoking.
        I missed the way
She wore the yellow stains
        like wallpaper
covering cracks on ancient walls
        that had started to peel away
in elegance and desperation.

They crumbled in pain
        and I saw your eyes
as his were heavy and ached
so we decorated ourselves
        with yellow wallpaper.
In pieces we fell away
        like him
in the suffocating summer heat
as limbs were dragged like lambs
        from walls
where the wallpaper was stained
        and new life
waited for its day in the sun.