Hearing you call her your sunshine
hurt me in a way that I didn’t expect.
It didn’t hurt the way a toothache tastes
or the way it smells when someone else
blows out candles on your birthday cake;
it hurt the way it stings to look underwater
in the ocean, but I find myself doing it anyways
because the provocative view is worth the pain.  
You are salt water seeping into my tear ducts
but I’m always stupid enough to open my eyes.