last May
on my couch
as we pretended to watch
animal planet
as we pretended to listen
to hippos playing,
the world was silent
as we slowly inched closer
until
we breathed
**** it’
and then
after all that time
for the first time
like nothing else
there was nothing else
but time
that’s when
I knew
you make
me brave
enough to jump
headfirst into
a pond full of
some predatory
hippos.