you* *should sleep.

i can't. are you   tired?

no, i wanna talk to you.

sunlight streaming through windows,
       soft skin,
             a dream with warm brown eyes,
a sleepy snowfall of kisses and snowflakes stuck to eyelashes,
   honey spilling over the floor,
              love spilling through lips,
sleep stuck under fingernails and pulling mouths into long drawn out yawns,
              the night leaving its soft bruises under eyes,
hearts beating slow as the sun creeps its way up through the sky,
              time dripping like molasses

goodnight

goodnight

i love you

*i  love you too

i can hear it in the way your voice sounds.

the way you laugh,

the way i can see your smile through the speakers knowing that big heart carries worries and hardships that i will never know.

like quiet refrigerator humming, i can feel the pit of your stomach in mine.

i can see the way the ivy of the ocean spills and rushes around your neck the climbing waters rooting into you.

after the quiet days you will give me a meter and i can feel my heart start running miles, reaching for you,

trying to figure out some way to pick up all of this broken glass so you won’t get cut on the sharp edges.

i’m trying to save this sand that is spilling from my chest into my overflowing hands, so we can build a home together.

trying to bail the water out of the hull of your ship so the salt won’t touch your lips,

because

the ocean is deep and wide and so, so much blue but it isn’t enough to even try
and keep me from you.
i will swim out until im so tired im gasping,

so i can carry you out of the deep, brush the jellyfish from your hair, and whisper to the starfish that have found home in your eyes til they slide away back to their tidepools.

i will kiss the salt away and smother you in fresh water and warm hands to hold.

i know you are sailing in rough waters, the waves beat against my door and it makes me sea sick knowing you’re so far out.

i will turn on the lighthouse and stretch my arms as far as they will go, reaching to pull you back safely to the shoreline,

reaching to bring you home.
​

we kissed for the first time behind a coffee shop.
in the haze of morning
her hand found mine
warm morning air settled on our skin

i kissed her at a stop sign in the dark.
foot on the brake,
heartbeats whispering between breaths,
“green light green light green light”

her face shrouded in warm candle light.
her hand in the water of the bath i lay in
”don’t get your sleeve wet”
*”i don’t mind”

ill give you the first golden light of the morning, sunbeams warm against your skin

the first star in the night sky,
cupped in the palms of my hands,  dripping soft light and spilling out onto my bedroom floor as we exchange secrets

the first breath i breathe when you pull away, a whisper of your name on my tongue

the first touch,
soft hungry hands and the way they search and find a place once longed for

the first kiss and the way your mouth found mine
teeth clinking together like wine glasses, a celebration of finely aged love

two lovers

many firsts, always forevers.

the snow covers everything
soft
ice cold
snowflakes fall on my tongue
they cover my hair
a gentle crown
snowflakes on my skin
freezing blue
on my back on the ground
staring into the night sky
frozen fingers curling into the snow
iced eyelashes
quiet.
soft.
cold.

i never thought that
longing could break apart ribs
but now my heart knows