You curled your hand around my chin and told me to "never change"
and I don't know if I can do that because
I think I've got hurricanes in my hair
and the graveyards of shipwrecks in my ribcage
with the force of ten thousand years of tides crashing against
the hulls of my chest

and you are the lighthouse glaring through the storm

you always chide me for opening my mouth and shutting it before emitting any words

I'm just trying to keep my head above water