my staccato heartbeat drowns out your voice
but i trace the words on your lips all the same
as i strive to decode the message held
in your gentle eyes.

this language of joy i see
is a foreign one
that my tongue trembles with,
stumbling over simple phrases.

my breathing stutters under your adoring gaze,
and suddenly the air is gone from my lungs.
how can such fear, and such warmth,
coexist, side by side?

i'm burning up from the inside,
my stomach sitting like molten lead in my gut.
words sear my throat,
though i don't know what i am saying.

i am posed on the edge of a blade
with your soft hands on my shoulders,
balancing me, as you speak
words of encouragement and peace.

i would die a thousand times for this feeling.

h.f.m.