My face looks young yet
With lines upon skin you can barely see
That deepen and spread as time passes
Yet these roots do not ground me

No, these lines cannot be compared to roots
Nor this skin be likened to the soil of trees
For they are more wire to hold and restrain
The fighting attempts of freedom beneath

I never thought I would get it again
I thought it came only once
But here you are and you're proving to me
That I am getting another chance

You give me silence to sound my words within
And lay yours on my tracks unfinished
You show me that even if the cup is bare
The water is never diminished

I know I am difficult
Yet you take me with such ease
I have never quite made it up to you
But your patience has yet to cease

I feel your presence ready at hand
Even if I shut you out
As is my love forever your shadow
That, you need never doubt

I used to think I would always be
Free to love whoever I please
And I thought my loving you
Was a choice made at my own ease

But now i see when we meet again
The bars around keeping me within
I would have been alone by myself
But I was given no choice inside the prison you locked me in

And now you come whispering words through the bars
Leaving without turning 'cos I'll never escape
So much care you had to get me in
Now there's no rush 'cos you know I'll always wait

I've been holding onto him too long
He has all this time in my grasp been
Unnoticed as if a glove upon my hand
So perfectly fitting as if my own skin

Never could I hold someone else's hand
For they never could within mine be held
Although our fingers were interlocked so tight
My skin by that glove was forever shelled

I could slip it off with ease
And open hand outstretched, finally bare
But before I feel that forgotten cool breeze
I ask you if the other side is kept for me to wear

I am a bather upon the hot sands of confusion
Never feeling the heat for the waves-
Calm finality constantly washing over

I lie there, while others hide under shade
Far from naked sun-
Yet vulnerable to her heat still

Their blood boils slowly, unnoticed until too late
They run into the water so far
So cold, so icy to their skin

My voice is unheard beneath their quarrels for cover
My words of warning unheeded
By the pride of self title

My blood simmers yet never to a boil
My skin is cooled yet never to a burn
I lie there knowing pain

Peace too.

So predictable a being am I
That my internal quarrels and debates
Are no more unexpected than a beat of heart
Nor unnatural as breathing.
A choice unmade is an intake of breath-
A silent gasp in apprehension
A choice made, an exhaled sigh of relief