One ear listening to the rain register its grievances with the window,
The other hearing the soothing murmur of your voice
Traveling from some insignificant place
Wrapping around my body like a favorite sweater
Or a dose of benadryl.
For a moment I am pulled away from myself
By the striking thought that somewhere
Most certainly
There is an alternate universe where I am irrevocably
All-consumingly in love with you.
The thought makes me smile, lazy and sly as a cat.

Every voice is too loud
every question is too biting
and I hate the world for making me feel these things I feel
because not every heart comes with a safety valve and
not every pair of lungs knows how to breathe while crying