What Was I Made For

for Crystal-lee

GLAAD Awards 14 March 2024 Los Angeles California

Last month at the Writer Pilgrim Substack,

Writer Pilgrim by So Elite

asked us to dedicate the month of May to writing poems about our favorite bands using their song title(s) each day.

For the letter “B,” I chose Billie Eilish’s song "What Was I Made For."

May - the title song poetry challenge

I.

In the glowing twilight of the Strip,

Las Vegas hums a neon lullaby—

you whisper, as if to the stars,

“What was I made for?”

II.

Years cascade like desert sand,

fragments of who we were,

in a city that never sleeps,

yet we found dreams in each other,

stubbornly, passionately.

III.

In these precarious times,

where love is a quiet rebellion,

we stand, two shadows against 

the blaze of neon lights,

hands intertwined like roots 

seeking water in the desert.

IV.

I was made for the warmth of your touch,

the familiar scent of you,

haunting like old dreams

in the sheets we share.

V.

I was made for our midnight battles,

for kisses that defy, for truths

that pierce deep, for your laughter

that heals.

VI.

You were made for me, my love—

for the way our shadows merge,

for the haven we create

from words and caresses,

for the raw beauty of our survival

etched in lines upon our faces.

VII.

What was I made for, if not

for this exquisite sorrow,

for the heart’s relentless ache,

for the sacred tether of us 

against the passage of time?

VIII.

In the desert’s cool embrace, it’s clear—

I was made for you,

and you, for the fierce,

achingly beautiful act 

of love.