Each lover placed a single part of me into the conglomeration
that became the person you know,
once the blood between each of the pieces cooled
and sat still for a duration lengthy enough for it to congeal.

The first placed a heart on the mass
and showed me just how swiftly it could beat.
The second ****** on eyes that had been concealed
and granted me the ability to observe the beauty that others hide within.
Another attached arms to the naked torso
so that I could hold others close and feel their warmth.
The next applied lips to my face
and taught me how to use them to make skin shiver and tremble.
As they stood in line and waited patiently
each one added another portion to the being that you know.

Each gifted me with a portion of myself that did not exist previously,
but now,
with their lips dripping venom
they ask me in whispered tongues,
with the sheets that conceal their motives waving carelessly in the wind,
what gift it is that you can grant me that I do not possess.
What knowledge that one so full of youth could possibly bestow
and I cry out with a frustration
that I will never take opportunity to explain to them.

For all of the gifts that they were able to bestow upon me
none were able to calm the trembling of my cowardly soul as you can.

You and I,
when we were yet in darkness,
we stumbled to find our own paths until we collided together.
In this collision we found that we were able to grant a light
each to the other.
And in finding this we decided to provide that light
for as long as it could be sustained.

You, love, were not a guiding star
you were the sun around which all things revolved
and your gravity pulled me back to the path that I was meant to follow.

As I followed mesmerized behind you
in one of those dazed steps
my light began to falter
and I forgot to lead you from the darkness you continued in.

So I took every emotion that you granted
and used them as a source of fuel
so that I could create a conflagration
large enough that the darkness could not compete.
This burning that you inspired became your guiding star,
brilliant and always visible when you are in darkness,
but too far away to offer the warmth and light to keep you out of it.

There is so much that you have already taught me,
but I need your help to continue what I have already started to learn.

You have taught me that with a loving touch
my trembling soul can be put at rest,
and then it is possible to be comfortable within my own skin.
You have taught me how to love someone so completely
that their world changes
from shades of black to sepia tones
and then explodes in color so vivid
that they can scarcely walk outside without collapsing
from the beauty that you have granted to life.
You have taught me how to patiently listen
to the chaos of another's life,
and make no move,
but to only hold out my hand in case they should reach for it.
You have taught me that sorcery exists for converting restless sleep to rejuvenating dreams.
More than anything,
you have taught me that it is possible
for a person to have a love for another that is greater than their love for self.
Not through your words,
or through your ideas,
but through your actions as you drew me from the dark.

So if the venom drips close enough to your ears that you should hear it fall,
observe the way color leaps at me from my every surrounding
and know that you have taught me everything that they could not.