i’ve stopped trying to
make my pain sweet,
just to please you.

Can I believe you?

Your assurances seem like

Disclaimers.

Your eyes as clear as summer skies
Can be clouded in an instant by a summer storm;
And yet-
I love them all the more.

Freckles dot your skin,
Emulating stars in the vast night sky,
And I know if I were to follow them
I would be guided home.

Your unruly hair blows wild in the wind stirred up around us,
And yet-
I feel not the slightest chill while wrapped up in your arms.

And if I were to be with you on the worst of days,
My heart would soar to know I had the privilege of seeing the parts of you that no one else cared to notice;

Because all of your pieces and parts may not be perfect,
And yet-
I wouldn't want you any other way.

what does it feel like to be held
not by another body
not by a set of limbs, a chest, a chin
but
by another soul

what does it feel like
to see truth in another pair of eyes
instead of hidden intentions
instead of absence

what does it feel like
to hear a familiar heartbeat
resounding next to your own
reaching through skin
through bone
two rhythms
indistinguishable

what does it feel like
to write poems about
a love that exists

I want to write,
but I write what I feel

and I can't feel anymore.