i'll keep you safe
legs on legs, breath mixing breath
until joint death

you are my bonsai
focus of devotion, the one treasure
close to forever

sweetness of your eyes
hot lemonade lips, you promise hope
a kiss-infused kaleidoscope

you played our song
in the aftermath of a heated discussion between close, close
lips and tongues

you were taller there
and I was tucked beneath you, in the crook of your arm and chest
warm and immovable

our song struck its notes
and together we sang it, both voices barely reaching audience
but in such clarity to our ears

only my voice caught
about halfway through, as I thought of you, and where we were headed
to the end of our lives, I hoped

and I sobbed to
the crook of your neck, in joyous foresight of our years as two to come,
racking my breast

you were worried
my tears scared you, in case I cried for reasons of hurt to my heart, but
my heart only hurt

because it was close
to bursting with overwhelming feeling, spilling over, a flood, a tidal wave
streaming from my eyes

my gratitude to
your existence, to any God for granting me you, your warm body and
freckled flesh

a hundred thousand
knives of love slammed through my ribs, into yours, turned to needles, sew
us into forever

I want to do
it all with you; the growing, adulthood, children, a house, our futures
I want them combined

till you wrinkle
and your freckles sink, and I kiss them with lined lips, and smile with
old eyes at you

for the longest time
possible, and I feel this is not just a hope, but a certainty, and that this
is what life is for me

and that is what
made me sob, into your body, and deeper still, because I know my life
is set with you

and how can I
be happier? than in the moment when I realised this, like being dunked
in the coldest water

it is a certainty
and I cried for it, for I know I am fulfilled, even in that one brief moment
of our youngest years

youth does nothing
to stem the flow of tears, it provides the richest nutrition, and I am not blind
but eyes wide open

my fairytale exists
and he is warm, bone and blood and beating soul, beside me, and I know
he is forever

and the way you
held me while I cried, and carried on existing, a certain smell and quietly
living, is how

I know our
connection is more than any can understand, and you squeezed back
as I clutched your hand

-and we were sat
in front of the sea
illuminated in moony streetlights
watching the silver worm of the swashing waves
inky black except for that contact

and across the water
distant lights shone, red, yellow, white
fast food commercialised with the big yellow M
sitting in our laps
the night cold, and we two shivering
although we both refuse to be warmed by the other's coat

and our song plays
and I look to you
sat by me on the cold bench
you, physical, mass, warm and breathing
you existing
and the song carries on

our mistakes, they were bound to be made,
but I promise you I'll keep you safe

and I do promise
because you are there
breathing next to me
and you exist
and that's all I need