Can we skip the bit where I'm not sure what it is you feel
where I wonder if the feeling that I'm feeling could possibly be real
where I’m asking whether someone as amazing as you could be feeling it too?

Can we dispense with the fear that what appears to be actually here is
a figment, a fiction based on a misread permission
a tarnished mirror hiding the terror of being seen this clearly by another?

Can we move on to the unguarded laughter and the freedom
to touch the surface of your face and the assurance
to reach across a within-our-reach shared space?

Can we stay in this moment for as long as this path takes us
from our past on into a future without masks
to where we nurture each other onto greater and to deeper?

Can we do that?