I daren't (rather, shouldn't) breathe:
I'd built a tower of hearts from cards.
The gaps and breaks are real estate --
I'm nestled in the in-betweens.

                                              (Sapp­**'s spirit sighs.
                                              How human to not move quickly enough,
                                              or to yearn for whatever's inches from reach
                                              - blissfully unhinged by "almost".)

She's marble-carved and still as stone:
if I kissed her, would she spring to life?
I'd offer nought but foolish flesh,
this trembling frame, and bone.

                                                          ­  ("Tell me yes, tell me no;
                                                             either way, you're in the right,
                                                          ­   but for the love of Venus -- speak.")

Beautiful hearts are hard to find, and to reward them when we do find them, we convince ourselves that they're too good for us. What a reward. Instead of holding on to them, we pull ourselves away. We push them away. We forget that the beauty of their hearts comes from their ability to love and from their willingness to liberate those whose hearts have caged themselves in the past.

Last night I cried myself to sleep and I
A man with many winter seasons under my belt;
When I thought of losses and gains of my life
Am thankful for the peace in me my soul felt

I have worn beautiful cloth, in style and color
but none fit my muscles/swine perfectly than my skin;
and I have worn some pretty amazing and cool
shoes yet the soles of my feet feel more comforting

I have not a luxury of a cushion at all times
but my buttock always provide the comfort I need;
and in this life, I know what it means to
suckle a breast either for pleasure or feed

So am grateful for everything that I have
and for every year that I am alive.

when we first met, when you
crossed the star-lit skies to

meet me (poetically) and i tried to
hide, (not poetically) knowing

somehow what was going
to happen, you said, “hi, my

name’s michael” and thought
(because i asked you later) “there

is no way she’s ever going to like me”
and i tried to play it cool thinking

“i will die, i will die forever, if he
doesn’t return my love.”