I suppose all I can really say

is that I love you, in this simple way.

The way that children cherish treasures

and secret places.

“All the things I’m feeling

don’t seem to come out right.”

were the words you said to me.

You held me under a pale sky,

that got brighter with every word.

All of those jumbled feelings twisted up

into fragments from your lips.

They were the sweetest my ears have ever heard,

and I held onto them,

like blades of grass on the edge of a cliff.

I was bruised,

and so were you.

But like a healer,

you touched my face,

and replaced my frown with a smile.

It wasn’t too late for me,

and it wasn’t too late for you.