Before you
And your gentle wit
And all the colors of your kindness  
There were only embers of me

In those days,
I fawned wisdom with my words
And painted every page azure
A ****** blue
A fresh snow on an already frozen lake

Before you,
Every season of anguish simmered up from the floorboards
And flowed through my currents  
And bubbled out of me like hot molasses

Before the roots of you wrapped around my fingers
And your soul spilled into mine
There was only rain
Only a flood that brought pen to paper

Before you
There were only embers of me
But now, my heart ablaze
it takes a storm to put me out