Love                                  is                      
wr­itten                    in                    stone
       which                                slowly
             fades                          to
                   sand                   ..                                          
                    ­     ..                 ..
                             . . . . . . .
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                                . . . .
                                  . .
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I am burdened
With a delightful weight
Your expanse covers me
Where I would not be exposed

Like night sky over deep waters
Gentle stars looking past the beyond

I am yoked
Neck and neck
Footsteps in the same direction
Joined as one

Like vines we are intertwined
Until we are buried in the earth

I think the sun has grown jealous
Of my friendship with the moon
I prefer dusk to dawn
And midnight instead of noon

I see the lights through the window
Forming shapes in your ceiling
We lie in bed and you look at me
You don't say what you are thinking
But you smile and get closer.

I hear the traffic through my window
Keeping me awake till late at night
Too late to say what I was thinking
That time I wanted to stay
But left anyway.

Press me against you
Like flowers in a book

At dawn
I watched you
Climb into bed beside me

Half awake, I was
And half-lit was the room
From the half-lit sky
Of early morning

And the dawn shadows
Drew across you
And I caught your appearance–
Your beard and your body
Your features and gestures

Getting into bed with me.

I layed there still
As the twilight crept
Slowly over us

Astonished at you
Beside me

As dawn and morning
Cradled us both
Back to sleep
And brought us into
Another day
Together.

This hell that consumes me
Gets the best of me
What have I done to put up with this suffering
Months of depression
And then light shines bright
Welcome to the manic world voices said
There is no exit
From this cycle
It is like being buried alive
Crying and screaming
Laughing and running all over the world

coercion is not only the absence of “no.”

it is also the “yes” that is given when the option of “no” is stripped away.

please don’t forget that your “yes” was not a “moment of weakness” or a “sin you have to repent for”

you said “yes” because “no” wasn’t an option. and that’s not really saying “yes” at all.